By David Awopetu
World number one Novak Djokovic further cemented his status as one of the greats of the game with a quite brilliant demolition of fourth seed Daniil Medvedev to secure his ninth title at the Australian Open and 18th Grand Slam title.
Djokovic brushed aside Daniil Medvedev in straight sets to win 7-5 6-2 6-2 at Melbourne Park.
The Serbian was utterly dominant in the final on Sunday and is the undisputed king at Melbourne Park.
The 33-year-old defended his title yet again with an immense display of serving and counter-punching from the baseline as Medvedev’s run of 20 successive wins came to an abrupt end.
It was another remarkable triumph for Djokovic, who has now won a staggering 18 Grand Slam titles and is within just two of the tallies racked up by rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Medvedev had been on a 20-match winning streak which had seen him win his last three tournaments and beat Djokovic at the Nitto ATP Finals.
But beating the world No. 1 at Melbourne Park is a different matter as he completed his second hat-trick of consecutive wins in the first Grand Slam of the year – and his 12th consecutive win there against a top-10 player. He broke the Medvedev serve eight times.
Djokovic is guaranteed to set a new record as world No. 1 when he spends his 311th week at the top of the rankings on Monday 8 March – surpassing Federer’s record of 310 weeks.
Now his focus will be to catch the Swiss superstar and Nadal who have both won 20 Grand Slam titles.
The Spanish superstar will bid to win his 14th French Open title in June while Federer, 39, has his best chance at Wimbledon.
After collecting the trophy, Djokovic told the Rod Laver Arena: “I love you each year more and more. The love affair keeps going.”
