MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (NEWS1130) - Number one seed Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 today to win the
Australian Open in the longest Grand Slam final in Open Era history.
The match, Djokovic's third straight Grand Slam win, lasted 5 hours and 53 minutes, which was also the longest singles match at the Australian Open.
Nadal lost his third straight Grand Slam final in the match that finished at 1:37 a.m. on Monday at Rod Laver Arena.
The previous longest Grand Slam final was 4:54, the 1988 U.S. Open match won by Mats Wilander over Ivan Lendl. The longest previous Australian final was 4:27 in 1988, with Wilander also winning against Pat Cash.