Nadal suffers in Australian epic

The dominance world number one Novak Djokovic enjoyed over Rafa Nadal throughout 2011 continued into 2012 on Sunday, as the Serbian triumphed over the Spaniard in the Australian Open final in Melbourne. His victory was, however, with the smallest of margins.

In an epic five-setter lasting five hours and 53 minutes ? the longest Grand Slam final in history by nearly an hour ? Djokovic carved out a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 victory over the world number two in the Rod Laver Arena, to retain the title he won last year. It was the 24-year-old's fifth victory in a major and his third successive Grand Slam win over Nadal.

The Mallorcan threw everything he had at the man who has now beaten him in seven successive finals. He broke at 5-5 to take an epic one-hour-and-20-minute opening set, before the momentum swerved to Djokovic, who plucked off the next two sets for a 2-1 lead.

In a hotly contested fourth, Nadal saved three break points in game eight to lead the set into a tiebreak, where he snatched the set after battling from 5-3 down.

Pumped up, he continued on top at the start of the fifth, breaking Djokovic to edge into a 4-2 lead. However, the Serbian broke straight back before breaking again to move 6-5 clear and serve for the match.

But even that wasn't the end of this marathon contest. Two points from the title, Djokovic drilled a straightforward smash into the net to give Nadal a break-back point. The Serbian ultimately kept his cool to set up his first match point, which he converted with a cross-court forehand, ripping his t-shirt in manic celebration.

"Rafa, you're one of the best players ever, one of the most respected players on tour," Djokovic said after the match. "We made history tonight; unfortunately there couldn't be two winners. I wish you all the best for this season and I hope that we will have many more finals like this."

"Good morning everybody," quipped Nadal as he began his runner-up speech ? a reference to the fact the match, which tore apart the previous record for a Grand Slam final of four hours and 54 minutes set when Mats Wilander beat Ivan Lendl at the 1988 US Open, had concluded at 1.37am local time.

"Congratulations to Novak and his team, they deserve it, they are doing something fantastic, so congratulations. To start the season here and play this fantastic match against Novak is, I believe, a fantastic start."