Roger Federer clinched his 20th Grand Slam title after defeating Croatia’s Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the Australian Open final in a five-set thriller at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. Second seed Federer, who was defending his Australian Open came into the final without dropping a set throughout the tournament. Cilic, on the other hand, reached the final of the tournament defeating the number one seed Rafael Nadal in the quarter-final stage.
At 36 years old, Federer became the oldest player to win the Australian Open. Roger Federer is also the first man to win 20 Grand Slam titles. Only three other players have won 20 or more titles, all women,-Margaret Court (24), Serena Williams (23) and Steffi Graf (22),
His nearest male challenger is Rafael Nadal (16). Federer has now won 10 percent of all Open Era slams. Federer has now won 96 singles titles, with a very realistic chance of reaching an incredible 100 by the end of the year.
Federer will, however, remain at the second spot in the ATP Rankings behind his Spaniard arch-rival Rafael Nadal. Federer last held the number one spot in November 2016.
Cilic gave the Swiss Maestro a hard time in the final testing him in five sets. Federer convincingly won the first set winning it 6-2. Cilic then made inroads into the match as he won the second set in a thrilling tie-breaker winning it 5-7 in the breaker. Federer then again dominated the third set winning breaking Cilic’s serve twice. The Croatian then did the same in the fourth set as he took the set 3-6.
In the fifth set, Federer returned to his dominant best as he won the set 6-1 and with it won the match and the Australian Open title.