Novak Djokovic snatches 6th Australian Open title

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Novak Djokovic crushed Andy Murray 6-1 7-5 7-6(3) on Sunday to match Roy Emerson’s record of six Australian Open titles and leave the Briton heartbroken again at Melbourne Park.

epa05137543 Novak Djokovic (C) of Serbia celebrates his win against Andy Murray of the United Kingdom during the Men’s final at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 31 January 2016.

But with the ongoing worries about his pregnant wife Kim back home – and the drama over the collapse of his father-in-law – the Scot seemed to have expended all his emotional energy long before this unfulfilling climax to a insane fortnight.

“You’ve been a legend the last two weeks”.

The win is his 11th Grand Slam title, bringing him equal to Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver.

While Djokovic was further enhancing his reputation, Murray has the unwanted statistic of becoming only the second man in the post-1968 Open Era to lose five Grand Slam finals at any one major.

“I sincerely feel that if he continues working on his game he’s going to have another crack at this championship”.

“Regardless of today’s result, it’s been hard”, Murray said.

Nigel Sears, who had been in Melbourne to coach Ana Ivanovic, recovered and returned home to his family in Britain, but the incident still shook Murray.

“I believe that all the guys who are out there fighting each week to get to No. 1 are very hungry to get to No. 1 and I know that…”

He also overcame Murray in the 2011, 2013 and 2015 finals, and was in supreme form having already won three major titles in an astonishing season a year ago.

Djokovic started the match on fire as he dispensed of the No. 2 player in the world in 30 minutes. “Thank you so much for all your support”, Murray said, choking back tears.

I need to pay the respect to Andy and his team for another tournament.

Such has been the Serbian’s dominance, he has now won five of the past seven grand slams – and beaten Murray in four Australian Open deciders.

It was Murray’s fifth loss from five opportunities at the Australian Open – four of which were against Djokovic. Second seed Murray failed to win a single set against the Serbian in a match that lasted just under three hours. You don’t get the chance to play many Grand Slam finals.

Djokovic pulled back though and then dealt a killer blow, breaking Murray’s next service game and then clinching the second set 7-5 as Murray continued to make errors. Ahead of him are Emerson (12), Pete Sampras and Rafael Nadal (14) and Roger Federer (17). Yeah, I just want to get home.