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A19
SPORTS Monday 30 January 2017
Federer beats Nadal in epic Aussie

final to win 18th major

JOHN PYE Grand Slam final for a long and top-ranked Andy Mur-
AP Sports Writer time now. ray, a five-time losing final-
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) “This one means a lot to me ist in Australia, went out in
— So here was Roger Fe- because he’s caused me the fourth round to 50th-
derer, down a break in the problems over the years.” ranked Mischa Zverev.
fifth set in a Grand Slam fi- With big wins come big Federer beat Zverev, and
nal. Across the net was his celebrations, Federer said. then U.S. Open champion
nemesis, Rafael Nadal, the “We’re going to party like Stan Wawrinka in a five-set,
left-handed Spaniard he rock stars tonight.” all-Swiss semifinal. That was
hadn’t been able to beat By winning in Melbourne, the night before Nadal
in a major final in almost a where he first played in held off Grigor Dimitrov in
decade. 2000 and where he kicked an almost five-hour, five-set Switzerland’s Roger Federer holds his trophy after defeating
The 35-year-old father of off his long reign at No. 1 semifinal late Friday. Spain’s Rafael Nadal during the men’s singles final at the Aus-
four was back in his first with the title in 2004, he be- After four sets of a final tralian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Sun-
tour-level tournament af- came the oldest man since where the momentum al- day, Jan. 29, 2017.
ter six months off letting his Ken Rosewall in 1972 to win ternately swung, the fifth Associated Press
injured left knee recover, a slam. had all the tension and game of the deciding set. shot rally — the longest of
and he hadn’t won any of Federer had lost five semi- drama that these two play- But he rallied and put Nad- the match — with a fore-
the big four events in ten- finals in Australia since win- ers are famous for. al under pressure. Nadal hand winner down the line.
nis since Wimbledon 2012. ning his previous title here Federer had a medical saved three break points Federer got the pivotal
Nadal was returning from in 2010. He’d lost three ma- time out for treatment on in the eighth game but lost break for 5-3, but Nadal
injury, too, and somehow jor finals since winning that his upper right leg and was momentum again when made him work for the very
the pair had renewed last Grand Slam in 2012. He broken in his first service Federer finished off a 26- last point.q
the Roger-Rafa rivalry in hadn’t played Nadal in a
a throwback Australian major final since losing at
Open final that transcend- the French Open in ‘11.
ed sport. After twice rallying from
At that moment, an 18th a set down, Nadal was
Grand Slam title didn’t fea- a break up in the fifth but
ture in Federer’s thinking. couldn’t hang on to be-
Don’t play the player, he come the first man in the
reminded himself, just play Open era to win each of
the ball. Attack the serve. the four majors twice. In-
With that, Federer recov- stead, Federer became the
ered the break, and seized first man in the Open era to
momentum in a roll of win- win three of Grand Slam
ning 10 consecutive points events at least five times
that helped propel him to (7 Wimbledon titles, 5 U.S.
a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win Opens, 5 Australian Opens
late Sunday night. His fifth and 1 French Open).
Australian title extended his “The magnitude of this
buffer to four atop the list of match is going to feel dif-
all-time Grand Slam cham- ferent. I can’t compare this
pions. Nadal remained tied one with any other one ex-
with Pete Sampras in sec- cept for maybe the French
ond place with 14. Open in ‘09,” Federer said.
“For me it’s all about the “I waited for the French
comeback, about an epic Open, I tried, I fought. I tried
match with Rafa again,” again and failed. Eventual-
Federer said, “... that I can ly I made it. This feels similar,
still do it at my age after yeah.”
not having won a slam for Three months ago, Feder-
almost five years. er and Nadal were in the
“That’s what I see. The last Spaniard’s native Mallorca
problem is the slam count for the opening of a ten-
— honestly, it doesn’t mat- nis academy wondering
ter.” if they’d ever be able to
Federer had lost six of the contend for majors again.
previous eight Grand Slam Yet here they were, the first
finals he’d played against Grand Slam tournament
Nadal and was 11-23 in of the season, renewing
their career meetings. His the classic rivalry that saw
last win over Nadal in a them dominate tennis a
major final was at Wimble- decade ago.
don in 2007. The long-odds final — No. 9
“It remains for me the ul- against No. 17 — unfolded
timate challenge to play after six-time champion
against him,” Federer said. Novak Djokovic was upset
“It’s super sweet, because by No. 117-ranked Denis Is-
I haven’t beaten him a tomin in the second round