Rafael Nadal confirmed his numero uno position with a five set win over Roger Federer in Melbourne, the score 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-2.
It was a tightly contested match lasting 4 hours and 23 minutes and the result deprived Federer of the opportunity to equal Pete Sampras’s record of 14 Grand Slam titles.
This was Nadal’s sixth Grand Slam title and he has now won three out of the four. He has also taken his record against former number one Federer to 13 wins out of 19 matches played and has won 5 out of their 7 Grand Slam final encounters.