Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic. Picture Credit: Twitter

World number 1 Novak Djokovic beat Russian tennis star Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in the men's singles finals at the Rod Laver Arena on Sunday to be crowned the Australian Open Champion for the ninth time. The result keeps his 100% winning record intact in the finals of the marquee event while Russia's wait for their first Grand Slam title since Marat Safin’s win in the 2005 Australian Open continues.

Australian Open 2021 Final – Djokovic beats Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 to win his 18th GRAND SLAM TITLE

The Serbian completed a dominating performance in a match that lasted around 2 hours, giving nothing away to his opponent who had been in terrific form up until the final at Melbourne. The victory takes Djokovic's Grand Slam titles' tally to 18 while Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer stand levelled with 20 Grand Slam titles each. Between the three of them they now share 58 Grand Slam titles.

Djokovic enters without a mask amid strict guidelines

Djokovic started off with a stunning 7-5 win in the opening set even as there were more cheers for Medvedev while some boos for the Serbian as he entered the court without wearing a mask. However, his game was on point - breaking in the second game itself then holding serve again to take a 3-0 lead. He was never going to look back from there and despite a good fight from Medvedev he managed to take the set 7-5.

Signals crowd to keep quiet

However, Djokovic wasn't quite a happy man when he was broken in the opening game of the second set. But in his typical style he broke next game to make it 1-1. Play was stopped for a brief while with Medvedev up 30-15 on serve at 1-2 in the set as a spectator started yelling out from the stands as part of a protest and security officials had to intervene.

Djokovic then went ahead 40-30 asking the umpire to tell the crowd to remain quiet which seemed to have worked for him as he broke again to take a 3-1 lead. And with Djokovic ahead, he did not lose the advantage to take extend his lead to two sets.

In what turned out to be the deciding third set, Medvedev yet again went down an early break and his effort to speed up the play seemingly worked against him. In fact, it might have even made matters worse as he had a disastrous third set. Djokovic maintained the lead to secure a memorable win.