Novak Djokovic crushes Medvedev to win third Australian Open in a row

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World number one Novak Djokovic crushed Russia's Daniil Medvedev in straight sets to win his ninth Australian Open tennis title and extend his record-breaking reign at Melbourne Park on Sunday.</p>
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Djokovic overpowered the fourth seed 7-5, 6-2, 6-2  to end the 25-year-old Russian's unbeaten run in  20 matches as over 7,000 fans cheered at the Rod Laver Arena.</p>
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The victory gave Djokovic his ninth Australian Open singles championship, a tournament record and the 18th Grand Slam title of his career.  The Serb has made nine Australian Open finals and won each time, including the last three years in a row.</p>
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With this Grand Slam championship, Djokovic is now just two titles behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who have 20 each, in the race to achieve the most major men’s singles titles in a career. Djokovic, 33, is a year younger than Nadal and six years younger than Federer, who will soon begin his comeback after two surgeries on his right knee.</p>
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The tournament turned out to be bit of a rollercoaster in the run-up to the final with Djokovic dropping five sets and valiantly fighting an abdominal injury that nearly forced him to pull out after the third round.</p>
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Despite admitting it was a gamble to keep playing, with a risk the injury could get worse and affect the rest of his season, the 33-year-old chose to continue and it paid off.</p>
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Medvedev, is one of the most cerebral players in the game, keeping his opponents guessing with his flat and low groundstrokes. Djokovic held a 4-3 head-to-head record against him but had lost three of the previous four, had his measure.</p>