Azarenka battles to Melbourne defence
Victoria Azarenka retained her Australian Open title with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Li Na.
The World No.1 was outplayed in the early stages as Li recovered from a break in the opening game to lead 5-2 in the first set with some impressively powerful hitting.
Azarenka broke back to 4-5 and saved three set points only to double fault on a fourth as Li took the lead.
Azarenka responded to open a 3-0 lead in the second. Li broke back but injured her ankle in the fifth game. The Chinese No.1 recovered from the setback impressively to level at 4-4 before Azarenka took two straight games to level the match.
In the decider Azarenka broke with a forehand winner before Li struck straight back and led 2-1 before a break for the Australia Day fireworks.
On the first point upon the resumption Li fell on her injured ankle and hit her head on the court. After a second medical timeout Li fought hard but could not cope with the defending champion’s consistency.
Azarenka broke to lead 3-2 and broke again in the final game when Li’s final backhand landed over the baseline. The Belarusian triumphed after two hours and 40 minutes winning her second major title.
Stat Attack – Azarenka
- Azarenka is the eighth woman in the Open Era to successfully defend the Australian Open title following Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Jennifer Capriati and Serena Williams
- The World No.1 is the first woman in the Open Era to win her first two Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open
- Azarenka won the Junior title in Melbourne in 2005 with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Agnes Szavay
Stat Attack – Li
- Li is the first woman to lose her first two Australian Open finals in three sets since Chris Evert in 1974 and 1981
- Li had not passed the fourth round at six Grand Slams since winning the 2011 French Open
Djokovic wears down Murray to retain Australian crown
Novak Djokovic won his third consecutive Australian Open title by defeating Andy Murray 6-7(2), 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-2.
The top seeded Serbian held four break points in the opening set but saw US Open champion Murray save each one. The British No.1 then dominated the subsequent tie-break to take the lead.
Third seeded Murray held three break points at love-40 in the second game of the second set but was not able to break as Djokovic hung on to reach 1-1.
With both players impressive on serve the set was decided by another tie-break. A double fault by Murray on the fifth point proved crucial and Djokovic moved clear to level the match after two hours and 13 minutes of battle.
Games continued to go by serve in the third set before Djokovic struck in the eighth game. A forehand winner gave the top seed three break points. Murray saved two but a forehand fell back onto the Briton’s side on the third and Djokovic was ahead 5-3.
The reigning champion played a confident game to seal the set and then dominated the fourth. Two breaks of the Murray serve gave Djokovic a 5-2 lead and he came from love-30 down serving for the title.
The World No.1 completed victory after three hours and 40 minutes for his fourth title at Melbourne Park.
Stat Attack – Djokovic
- With his sixth Grand Slam singles title Djokovic moves to joint 21st on the all-time list with Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Don Budge, Jack Crawford, Tony Wilding and Laurence Doherty
- Victory gives Djokovic his 35th career singles title moving him ahead of Michael Chang to 16th on the Open Era list
- In winning the title the Serb lost 4 sets and a total of 95 games, in 2012 he lost 5 sets and 81 games and in 2011 dropped just 1 set and 60 games
Stat Attack – Murray
- Murray has fallen to Djokovic at the last three Australian Opens – the only other event where they have met 3 times is in Miami where Djokovic leads 2-1
- With his sixth Grand Slam final Murray has reached more major finals than 11 players who have been ranked World No.1: Andy Roddick (5), Ilie Nastase (5) Lleyton Hewitt (4), Marat Safin (4), Patrick Rafter (4), Gustavo Kuerten (3), Yevgeny Kafelnikov (3), Juan Carlos Ferrero (2), Carlos Moya (2), Thomas Muster (1), Marcelo Rios (1)
Top seeds and Home Favourites take Doubles titles
Bob and Mike Bryan won an all-time record 13th Grand Slam title with a 53 minute 6-3, 6-4 win over surprise finalists Robin Haase and Igor Sijsling.
The top seeded Americans have reached nine of the last ten Australian Open finals winning the title now on six occasions – 2006-07, 2009-11, 2013.
Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci won their third major title in the past seven months with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Australian wild cards Casey Dellacqua and Ashleigh Barty.
The top seeded Italians recovered from a break down in the final set to complete victory in the final having edged out the Williams sisters in a thrilling three-set quarter final.
16 year-old Barty was attempting to become the youngest winner of a major title since Martina Hingis in 1997.
There was Australian success in the Mixed Doubles final as wild cards Jarmila Gajdosova and Matthew Ebden defeated the Czech team of Lucie Hradecka and Frantisek Cermak 6-3, 7-5.