Swiss tennis star Roger Federer on Sunday, won his 20th Grand Slam title after seeing off Marin Cilic in the final of the 2018 Australian Open in Melbourne.
The title was Federer’s sixth in the first Grand Slam event of the year, equalling Novak Djokovic and Roy Emerson’s records. He has now won four more Grand Slam titles than his closest rival, Rafael Nadal, who has 16, in the all-time list for male winners.
During the match, the Swiss maestro lost five games in a row to drop the fourth set, but recovered to win 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 3-6 6-1.
The 36-year-old becomes only the fourth player after Margaret Court, Serena Williams and Steffi Graf to win 20 or more major singles titles.
“It’s a dream come true and the fairytale continues,” said Federer, who has won three of the last five majors.
“I’m so happy, it’s unbelievable, after the year I had last year, it’s incredible,” added Federer.
With the roof of the Rod Laver Arena closed due to extreme heat, Federer and Cilic played an absorbing contest over three hours and two minutes.
After a poor start, Cilic looked to have the momentum when he won five games in a row to force a fifth set. However, Federer served well at the start of the decider and got the key break in the following game to hold on for victory over the world number six.
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