Djokovic wins third consecutive Australian Open

By: Newstalk ZB staff | Tennis News | Monday January 28 2013 5:58

Novak Djokovic is the Australian Open champion for the fourth time.

Djokovic has become the first player in the 45-year professional era to win three consecutive Australian Open titles, the top seed outlasting Andy Murray in a four-set battle that lasted three hours and 40 minutes.

After two very tense tie-breaker sets, Djokovic finally found a way to break the Murray serve in the third set and from then on the Serbian started to assert his authority on the game, going on to close out the historic win 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Djokovic says he's thrilled with the consecutive wins.

"Winning three in a row, it's incredible, it's very thrilling, I'm full of joy right now and it's going to give me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season."

He says an aggressive approach paid off.

"I went for my shots, especially in the third and fourth, and came to the net quite often and I was quite successful in that percentage. It worked well for me and I needed to be the one who dictates the play and I'm really glad I played my best."

Andy Murray says there was very little between them.

"That was obviously one of the differences, he just returned a little bit better but it was surprising that there were so few breaks in the three sets."

Despite losing a Grand Slam final for the fifth time, Murray is far from downbeat.

"The last few months have been the best tennis of my life, I made the Wimbledon final, won the Olympics, won the US Open, it was close here as well."

Novak Djokovic has now won six Grand Slam titles including four Australian Opens.

Photo: Getty Images

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tennis | Australian Open | Novak Djokovic | Andy Murray |