Emotions run high as Nadal defeats Federer

Rafael Nadal became the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open title after another epic battle with Roger Federer today.

The 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-2 win denied Federer his 14th grand slam title, meaning the Swiss world number two will have to wait a little longer to equal Pete Sampras' record.

The Spaniard collected his title only after an overwhelmed Federer burst into tears in the face of massive crowd support whilst making his runners-up speech.

Nadal, playing in his first final at Rod Laver Arena, has now won titles on all three surfaces following his repeated success at the French Open and his triumph against Federer in their thrilling encounter at Wimbledon last year.

In winning in Melbourne, Nadal became the first man to enjoy success on clay, grass and hardcourt since Andre Agassi.

His historic victory also extends his run of success against the Swiss 27-year-old to 5-2 in grand slam finals, something that must surely be starting to prey on the former world number one now.

Nadal, the current world number one, who took a record-breaking five hours 14 minutes to get past friend and Davis Cup team-mate Fernando Verdasco in the semi-final, showed the occasional sign of fatigue from that five-setter, having his right thigh massaged after the seventh and ninth games of the third set.

But with the adrenaline pumping and Federer tightening up in the fifth-set decider, Nadal dug deep to record his epic win.

Both players fought tooth and nail from the first ball, forcing each other to find that extra shot time and time again.

It was largely a battle from the baseline, although both showed some deft touches around the net when they did venture forward.

Federer in particular earned some easy points with well-placed drop shots but he did not always capitalise on them.

In fact, he only converted six of the 19 break point opportunities he had, a statistic which in the end came back to haunt him.

Nadal drew first blood taking the first set 7-5 but when Federer broke Nadal twice to take the next 6-3 the crowd settled in for the long haul.

The third set went to a tie breaker where Nadal pulled off a superb cross-court volley winner before a Federer double fault gave him the crucial two sets to one advantage.

But Federer came back in style in the fourth to break Nadal twice and force it into a deciding fifth set.

However, his backhand errors continued to haunt him and when he trailed 5-2 there was little hope of a comeback.