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Patna : Sixth seed Rafael Nadal, 35, Spain, won a record breaking 21st Grand Slam singles title on January 30, 2022, beating 2nd seed Daniil Medvedev, 25, Russian, in Australian Open (AO) men’s singles final on Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Park, Australia, rallying back from two sets down. Nadal was playing his 6th AO Final.
Nadal survived the Medvedev scare by beating him 2-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 in 5 hrs 24 minutes in an epic of match to win his 2nd Australian Open title, 13 years after after winning his first title in 2009.. Nadal now leads Medvedev 4-1 Head to Head. Nadal has now won at least two singles titles at all the four Grand Slam tournaments. It was Nadal’s 90th ATP title. The Spaniard had last won a Grand Slam title at French Open in 2020.Novak Djokoc, 34 Serbia, and Roger Federer, 40, Switzerland, have won 20 Grand Slam titles each.
Nadal won 7 break points during the match to 6 by the Russian World No 2. Medvedev, however, won 5 games in a row during the match to 3 by World No 5 Nadal. Medvedev also won 77 receiving points during the match to 70 by the Spaniard. The Russian hammered 23 Aces during the match to just 3 by Nadal. The Russian, in all, won 189 points during the match to 182 points by World No 5 Nadal. Both the players committed 5 double faults each during the match. Both the players won 112 service points each in the match. Nadal had lost in five-sets to World No 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas, 23, Greece, in AO quarter-final in 2021 after winning the first two sets.
Rafael Nadal)