The first Grand Slam of the year wrapped up today. Novak Djokovic lifted the trophy in the men’s singles for a record 7th time at the Australian Open. This is the 15th Grand Slam of his career which takes him past Pete Sampras’ tally of 14 Grand Slam wins. He’s now 3rd behind Nadal and Federer on the men’s singles chart.
Naomi Osaka won her 2nd Grand Slam in a row after last year’s dramatic US Open. She defeated the 8th seed Petra Kvitova. She also becomes the first Japanese national to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Men’s Singles
Djokovic won the 2019 Australian Open defeating Nadal 6-3,6-2,6-3 in straight sets. Nadal felt clueless and off-balance against a ruthless Djokovic. He could not break Djokovic’s serve who proved again why he’s one of an all time greats. Nadal came close with a break point in the third set which Djokovic magnificently defended. Incidentally, this was Nadal’s 4th loss in the Australian Open finals out of 5 final appearances, having won a title way back in 2009.
In a Slam of upsets, 8 of the top 10 seeds were knocked out even before the semifinals. The biggest upset came in the form of Roger Federer, the 20-time Grand Slam and the defending champion. He was ousted by the 14th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the 4th round in a valiant 4 set effort.
It was an affair of one-side matches in semi-finals where first time semi-finalists, Tsitsipas and Pouille could not pose any threat. The top two seeds, Djokovic and Nadal ruthlessly routed their opponents in straight sets.
Women’s Singles
Naomi Osaka, the 21-year old fan favourite, defeated the 8th seed Petra Kvitova to lift her 2nd Grand Slam on the trot in only her 2nd final appearance. Osaka won a closely fought first set which went to a tie-break. Kvitova levelled up with a 7-5 second set win. Osaka won the final set relatively easily for a final scoreline of 7-6,5-7,6-4. Osaka’s win also means she will be crowned the new World No.1 in women’s singles this Monday.
Maria Sharapova knocked out the defending champion and 3rd seed, Caroline Wozniacki in a shock upset. Serena Williams, another favourite lost to Karolina Pliskova in the 4th round.
Men’s Doubles
The French pair of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert defeated Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4,7-6 in straight sets. With this win, the pair achieved the milestone of a Career Slam, having won the US Open (2015), Wimbledon (2016) and French Open (2018).
Along the way, they knocked out the 4th seed and 6-time Australian Open winners Mike and Bob Bryan in the quarter-finals.
Women’s Doubles
In a surprising result, the unseeded pair of Samantha Stosur and Zhang Shuai defeated the 2nd seed pair of Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic 6-3,6-4 in straight sets.
Mixed Doubles
In the mixed doubles title, the 3rd seeded pair of Barbara Krejcikova and Rajeev Ram defeated the wild card Astra Sharma and John-Patrick Smith.