Melbourne, Australia
It took nearly six hours but Novak Djokovic was finally able to beat Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open Final.
In the longest Grand Slam singles final ever, Djokovic prevailed 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 after 5 hours, 53 minutes.
When Djokovic his his last winner to to claim his third Australian Open title it was 1:37 Monday morning local time. The victory also made Djokovic the fifth male player to win three straight Grand Slam finals since the Open Era began in 1968.
"We made history tonight and unfortunately there couldn't be two winners," Djokovic said.
The winner was nearly Nadal, but an error in the fifth set seemed to swing the tide in Djokovic's favor.
Nadal went up a break at 4-2 and was serving to take a commanding three-game lead. At 30-15, Nadal came into the net for what looked like an easy put away down the line. Instead of being a point away from 5-2, he pushed it wide and Djokovic eventually earned the break back.
It took five more games, but Djokovic eventually put Nadal away and did it in a match that eclipsed the previous longest major singles final between Mats Wilander and Ivan Lendl at the U.S. Open in 1988, which lasted 4 hours, 54 minutes.
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