Rafael Nadal defeated Daniil Medvedev in a dramatic Australian Open men's singles final in Melbourne on Sunday to become the first man in tennis history to win 21 Grand Slam titles. In a gruelling match that lasted well over five hours and saw fortunes swing between the two players, Nadal came back from two sets and finally prevailed over Medvedev in a dramatic fifth set. With his victory, Nadal overtook Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in the list of most men's singles Majors and become the first ever male player to win more than 20 Grand Slam titles in singles. Nadal won the thrilling final in Melbourne 2-6, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.
Here is a video of the moment when Nadal won the title to create history:
Earlier, Medvedev broke in the fifth and seventh games to take the opening set in 42 minutes.
The duo then exchanged two breaks each before the second set went to a tiebreak where Medvedev prevailed in a gripping set lasting 84 minutes.
The set was marred when a protester holding a banner highlighting refugee detention jumped on to the court mid-game when Nadal was serving for the set at 5-3 before being quickly dragged away by security officials.
Nadal then fought back and won the third set as he broke the Russian second seed in the ninth game as the crowd roared him on.
In the fourth set, Nadal kept his hopes alive by grinding down an increasingly agitated Medvedev, breaking two times to the Russian's one.
In the dramatic final set, Nadal broke Medvedev's serve in the fifth game but the Russian broke back in the 10th game to level the set.
Nadal, however, broke back immediately to clinch victory and become the first ever man in the history of tennis to win 21 Grand Slam titles.
(With AFP inputs)