5 Most Memorable Slam Finals Of The Open Era

#3 Australian Open 2012 (Novak Djokovic vs Rafael Nadal)

(The Marathon Battle)

Overview:

Time Duration: 5 hrs 52 minutes

Total No of points: 369

Total games played: 54

Total No of Winners: 101

Final Scoreline

Djokovic def. Nadal : 5–7, 6–4, 6–2, 6–7(5–7), 7–5

Background:

The 2012 Australian Open final was another chapter of the Nadal-Djokovic rivalry. Both the players continued their amazing run of form from the previous year to reach the final of the first Grand Slam of the year. Djokovic had defeated Nadal in 6 finals in 2011, winning two of the four majors.

Match:

The first set began with the hold of serves from both sides until Nadal broke Djokovic's serve to claim the set by 7-5. In the second set, the Spaniard broke again, but Novak came back at the crucial time to level the match at one set all. The Serb dominated the third set, holding his serve comfortably and breaking Nadal's serve twice to take the lead in the match. However, Nadal fought back in the fourth set and upped his game. The moment of the set came when he faced three straight break points in the 8th game, but fought back and won five points in a row to stay on serve.

The set went into the tiebreak and Nadal was behind by 3-5 but once again fought back to win four straight points to level the match. The decider started with a few hold of serves until Rafa broke Novak's serve in the 6th game to lead by 4-2. But the Serb broke right back to level the set again.

After a few games, in the 11th one, Djokovic broke again and held the serve on 12th to defend his title in the longest final ever. The fatigue from the match was so much that both players weren't able to even stand on their foot for the post-match ceremony.