AUSTRALIA 1, GERMANY 1 Venue: Pat Rafter Arena, Brisbane, AUS (hard- outdoor) Australia, the 28-time champion, is level at 1-1 with three-time winner Germany after the opening singles rubbers on Friday. World No. 5 Alexander Zverev was pushed all the way by Sydney International finalist Alex de Minaur before prevailing 7-5, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) in just under four hours. The German No. 1 trailed by two sets to one and found himself down 0-3 (40-A) when serving in the decider, but found a way back into the match and secured a vital first point for the visiting nation with a final-set tie-break win. "I hope that will be the deciding point to get the win,” said Zverev. “We need...
Roger Federer added another chapter to his phenomenal career on Sunday when the Swiss superstar captured his 20th Grand Slam championship crown to retain his Australian Open title with a thrilling 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Marin Cilic in the night-time final. Twelve months on from beating Rafael Nadal in a pulsating five-set final, the 36-year-old once again drew upon his great skill and ingenuity to build upon his legacy as the greatest player in tennis history by winning a record-equalling sixth Australian Open crown (with Roy Emerson and Novak Djokovic), coming through a draw that respected observers thought would be problematic. "I'm so happy, it's unbelievable,” said an emotional Federer, with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup trophy...
Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Croatia’s Mate Pavic saved one championship point in the Match tie-break to capture the Australian Open mixed doubles title on Sunday. Fifth seeds Pavic and Dabrowski scraped past India’s Rohan Bopanna and Timea Babos of Hungary, the eighth seeds, 2-6, 6-4, 11-9 in 68 minutes under a closed roof on Rod Laver Arena. The tournament’s organisers had enforced the extreme heat policy as the temperature neared 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). The victory comes less than 24 hours after Pavic partnered Oliver Marach to the men’s doubles title, with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. [ALSO LIKE] “It feels pretty good, I have to say,” Pavic said of his two...
Roger Federer beat Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to win his sixth Australian Open and 20th overall Grand Slam title after three hours and three minutes on Sunday night. In a match of multiple momentum shifts, Federer joined Australia's Roy Emerson and Novak Djokovic of Serbia as a six-time champion in the 50th Open Era edition of the Australian Open. Federer has become just the third man, after Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver, in the Open Era to win four or more Grand Slam titles after becoming a 30-year-old and now moves just 155 points behind World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the ATP Rankings. Federer improved to 9-1 lifetime against Cilic in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series,...
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic entered the 2018 Australian Open on fire, becoming just the fifth team to win two ATP World Tour events leading up to the year’s first Grand Slam, capturing trophies at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open and the ASB Classic. But while none of those first four teams advanced past the semi-finals at Melbourne Park, the Austrian-Croatian team surged all the way to its maiden Grand Slam title, defeating 11th seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-4, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena. "I don't know what to say," Pavic said in disbelief. "I'm really happy with everything, with these two weeks, with the beginning of the year. We still haven't lost a match." Marach and Pavic...
