The Men’s champion-Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic outlasted Rafael Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 in a memorable match lasting 5 hours 53 minutes.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal with Australian Open 2012 Trophics

The men’s final showed what a superhuman effort is needed to win the title in this current era and this final will forever be remembered as the longest and arguably one of the greatest finals ever. Still there appears to be a two horse race that we have seen in the last three grand slams and Djokovic has won all the three show downs against his closest rival Rafael Nadal. The next few months will prove to be a huge test for Nadal as he needs to turn the rivalry around sooner than later after losing seven straight matches. Else we could see this going the same way as Nadal Vs Federer. Federer was too stubborn to change his game plan against Nadal and Nadal was going the same way last year. However we did some positive signs that he is tinkering with his game-Nadal needs to go to the net more as he cannot win the baseline duels with Novak with their games stacked up as it is currently.

Also we have also seen Murray seemingly close the gap with a very close fought encounter against Djokovic. Nadal played his fourth consecutive grand slam final winning one and losing the last three finals in the process becoming the first person in the Open Era to lose three consecutive finals. Federer made the semifinals yet again while there were some good performances from Tomas Berdych and Bernard Tomic who reached the quarterfinal and fourth round respectively.

Women’s Champion-Victoria Azarenka

22 year old Victoria Azarenka beat Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-0 in the final. We have seen the birth of a new champion in Azarenka who has finally rid herself of her inner demons that had plagued her in the past. There has been a big change in the rankings with No.3 Azarenka moving to No.1 while Caroline Wozniacki the incumbent fell to No.4 while Sharapova moves up one spot to No.3 and Kvitova stays at No.2.  Wozniacki will now see lesser pressure on her as she doesn’t have to defend her No.1 ranking without winning a grand slam title.

Kim Clijsters may have played her last Australian Open and put up a good show losing to Azarenka in a tough three setter. Serena Williams was affected by health issues but was completely outplayed by Ekaterina Makarova. Things could get tougher for the Williams sisters as they head towards the twilight of their career.

Men’s Doubles- Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek

Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek beat Mike and Bob Bryan 7-6(1), 6-2 who were looking to win a record 12^th Grand slam titles. Currently the Bryan twins have won 11 titles joint with the Woodies and one behind the duo of John Newcombe and Tony Roche. 38 year old Leander Paes completed the Career Doubles slam while Stepanek won his first grand slam doubles title. The unseeded pair became the first team in Open Era to beat the Top 3 seeds at the Australian Open in the same tournament.

Women’s Doubles- Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva

Last minute pairing of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva won the title beating the Italian duo of Errani and Roberta Vinci 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. They had a good comeback win after the Italian pair looked like they were on their way to victory after winning the first set.

Mixed Doubles- Bethanie Mattek Sands and Horia Tecau

We saw first time winners in Bethanie Mattek Sands and Horia Tecau beating Leander Paes and Elena Vesnina 6-3, 5-7, 10-3. Mattek-Sands and Tecau were looking at an easy win at 63 42 but Vesnina and Paes rallied to push it to the tie breaker which was dominated by Mattek-Sands and Tecau.

Juniors

Boys- Luke Saville

Australian Luke Saville who reached the Australian junior boys’ final in 2011 won the title this year with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 final victory over Filip Peliwo, of Canada. Saville who is ranked No.1 in the juniors had earlier won the 2011 Wimbledon boys’ trophy last July.

Girls- Taylor Townsend

15-year-old Taylor Townsend won the girl’s title beating Yulia Putintseva of Russia in three sets 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Seeded 14^th Townsend has a very good attacking net game that is a rarity among tennis players currently. The young American is the youngest ever to win the title since Donald young six years ago.

Boys Doubles

Adam Pavlasek of Czech Republic and Filip Veger Croatia beat 6th seeded British pairing of Liam Broady and Joshua Ward-Hibbert 6-3, 6-2.

Girls Doubles

US pair Gabrielle Andrews and Taylor Townsend beat the top seeds Irina Khromacheva of Russia and Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 5-7, 7-5, 10-6. With this win, Taylor Townsend completed a double having earlier won the girls’ singles. 

On Sunday Paes was gunning for his second title after winning the men’s doubles the previous day. However Paes and his partner Elena Vesnina seeded fifth lost 6-3, 5-7, 10-3 to the eight seeds Bethanie Mattek Sands and Horia Tecau who won their very first grand slam.

Bethanie Mattek Sands and Horia Tecau defeated Elena Vesnina and Leander Paes to Win Australian Open 2012 Mixed Doubles Championship

Leander Paes and his partner made a sluggish start losing the first eight points and going down a break at 0-2. They went on to lose the set at 6-3. The second set too saw the American Romanian pair get off to a 4-2 lead. A rain delay meant the roof would be closed and there was a momentum shift. Paes and Vesnina broke back to 4-4 when Bethanie hit two double faults and two returns later. It went to 5-6 when Paes poached a volley to break serve. It was one set all.

The match went to a super tiebreak with the winner being the first tea m to reach 10 points. The opening point saw a wonderful point when Mattek Sands ht a spectacular passing shot when running to her limit and almost collided with a linesman. Bethanie and partner went up quickly to 4-1 with some fine returns and volleys. Soon it became 6-2, 9-3 and they converted the championship point when Tecau hit a volley winner. Paes did not appear to be at his best after playing the men’s doubles late evening the previous night.

Paes thanked his team saying that they were the backbone for their success and said that Australia and India celebrated republic days in January and the relations between the countries were strong. He thanked the crowd for their support. Paes ended the speech with a few words in Hindi and “Jai Hind”. Bethanie thanked her team and husband for their support.

The match ended at 1:37 AM and is the longest grand slam final in history and it is also the longest match ever at the Australian Open.  Nadal becomes the first man in the open era to lose three grand slam finals in a row and they are all to the same person in Djokovic.

Novak Djokovic Wins Australian Open 2012 Championship

The match could be divided into 3 phases: For the first set and bit, Nadal showed some of his aggressive strategy and attacked the Djokovic forehand with some success instead of engaging in a baseline rally where his forehand cross court comes up against the Djokovic backhand. He went up a break at 4-2 only to see Djokovic fight back to lead 4-4. At 5-5, Nadal broke serve and served for the set. A great touch volley got him to two set points and he converted on second with a big serve.

The second phase when Djokovic got back into the match as Nadal retreated back into his shell playing defensive tennis. Novak now went up 5-2 in the second set and served for the set at 5-3. Nadal fought hard and broke serve but lost serve at 4-5 to hand the Serbian the set. The third set was All Djokovic and he won 6-2 and it looked like a painful 4 set loss to Nadal was in the offing.

The third phase was the last two sets where the two players fought like gladiators giving it their all and the match reached epic proportions as both players had their chances to close out the match. Djokovic led two sets to one and at 4-3 had 0-40 on Nadal’s serve. A break there would have meant that Djokovic would have served for the match in the fourth set. But that brought out the best in Nadal- A blistering forehand down the line winner, A big serve, Backhand winner that wrong footed Djokovic. An ace and service winner meant the set was level at 4-4. After a rain delay for 10 minutes, the roof was closed and on resumption the set went to a tie break.

Djokovic led 5-3 in the fourth set tie break but Nadal fought back to win 4 points in a row to take the match into a decider. In the fifth set, Nadal looked the stronger player as Djokovic seemed to flag and he rushed to a 4-2 lead with a break. He led 30-15 and had an easy passing shot to lead 40-15 but just seemed to miss. The Hawk eye showed it missed by a small margin. That point was the difference between victory and defeat for Nadal. He was put under pressure and dropped serve to be level at 4-4. Again he saved break point but at 5-5, Djokovic broke through. Serving for the match, Djokovic led 30-0 but Nadal fought back to gain a break point to level again. However Djokovic saves the break point with a stinging backhand crosscourt. Nadal hit a fierce forehand that hit the tape and dropped out giving Djokovic match point. A big serve got a weak response which Djokovic hit to the open court to wrap up the match.

Nadal who it must be said was not at his best as he made 71 unforced errors in the match; this must be some sort of record for Nadal and this was more than Djokovic as well. This was a heartbreaking loss as it was the seventh in a row but again Rafa Nadal showed the heart of a champion in the way he fought and endeared himself to the crowd again. However the puzzle that is Novak Djokovic continues to be unsolved for Nadal as he tries to arrange the pieces together. Nadal is one step closer and employed some of his offensive strategy at various stages in the match but was not consistent enough through the whole match.

What this match has thrown up is what we have come to know through most of 2011:

1) Nadal cannot out duel this version of Djokovic from the baseline with his weapons at the current level. His topspin shots land too short and give too much time to Djokovic to flatten out his ground strokes forcing the error from Nadal. He must either go on the offensive waiting for the right shot and also attack the net a lot more as his volley is pretty good now.

2) Nadal does not possess a great serve and against Djokovic his second delivery is a weakness that the returner has exploited.

3) Nadal’s return of serve from 3 metres behind the baseline means that there is very less probability of winners or an offensive start to the rally and this gives Djokovic enough time to prepare his ground strokes and unleash his attack.

4) Employ a change up by using drop shots and short slices when Novak is drawn out of court by his serve or deep approach shots.

In the meantime we have to wait for the next few tournaments to see the result this loss has on Rafael Nadal.

The match featured some spectacular doubles action as both teams showed off quick reactions and some stunning reflex volleys.

Leander Paes Radek Stepanek defeated Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan to win Mens Doubles Championship at Australian Open 2012

In the first set, Paes and Stepanek who are unseeded mainly because Stepanek has not played much in doubles overcame some trouble including a breakpoint at 1-2. The set went to a tie break which the indo –Czech pair clinched at 7-1 on the back of some blistering returns which proved to be too much for the Bryan twins who could only play some defensive shots which were pounced upon by Paes and Stepanek.

The second set saw the Bryan twins quickly go down 0-3 and were in danger of a double break at 0-30 but they recovered to hold and held to 2-4. They earned a break point on Paes’s serve the next game but Leander came up with a great volley under pressure and they held to 5-2.  The next game a double fault at match point gave Paes and Stepanek the title.

Stepanek was the star of the day with some exquisite reflex volleys, deep serves and great returns. Paes completed his career slam in doubles after finally adding the Australian Open doubles title after losing in 3 previous finals here. The Bryans will have to wait to win a record 12^th grand slam which would put them ahead of the “Woodies”

Paes said,” I thank my partner and my team. Also Martina Navratilova who has been a great inspiration to me” Bob said, “Paes and Stepanek were too good for us today. We had a good tourney and will be back. I am rushing to be with my wife who will probably deliver our child tomorrow”

Day 13, the penultimate day of the Australian Open 2012 saw the women’s final played with the winner having the added incentive of rising to World No.1 in the rankings. 22 year old Victoria Azarenka beat Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-0 in an hour and 22 minutes to win the title.

Victoria Azarenka Wins Australian Open 2012 Womens Title

Victoria Azarenka playing her first grand slam final started off nervously losing her serve in the first game after serving 2 double faults and was down 0-2, 0-30 before fighting back to 1-2. Azarenka grew more confident and this translated into a service break and soon they were level at 3-3. From this point on, Azarenka was unstoppable winning the next 9 games in a row with some inspired tennis.

The key turning point proved to be the crucial game with Azarenka leading 4-3 in the first set. Sharapova was looking at an easy hold at 40-15 but some hard hitting ground strokes from Azarenka and a double fault brought up a break point for the Belarusian. Azarenka started moving to the net and pulled some fine winners including a drive volley to the open court to break serve for 5-3. She served out the set when Sharapova dumped a return into the net.

Azarenka used the momentum to break serve in the first game in the second set with a well anticipated passing shot that was just out of reach of a lunging Sharapova. Azarenka was in a spot of bother the next game going down 0-30 and facing a breakpoint but she dug deep and came up with aggressive ground strokes to hold to 2-0.

Sharapova was hitting the ground strokes with more power than Azarenka but the crucial difference was that Azarenka was more accurate and consistent making just 12 unforced errors to 30 by her opponent. Soon the lead became 5-0 and a nervous Azarenka was now serving for the championships. Sharapova earned a breakpoint with aid of a lucky net cord but hit a weak backhand into the net. Azarenka closed out the set and match at 6-0. Azarenka dropped to her knees and seemed in disbelief at what she had accomplished. She had won her first grand slam title and also attained the No.1 ranking.

Martina Hingis the former champion presented the trophies to Sharapova and an ecstatic Azarenka. Sharapova praised the champion saying it was an honor to play her. She added, “In every sport you have your good days and bad days. Today things didn’t work out for me. She was just too good. This was a tough loss but I will be definitely be back next year. Melbourne has been a home away from home for me the past month”

Azarenka thanked Sharapova for her kind words and said, “I am sure we will perform in many more finals together. I wish to thank my team, my family, boyfriend and my grandmother who inspires me the most. It is a dream come true.”