It took a marathon effort, but the top seed in men’s tennis, Novak Djokovic, fought off fatigue and No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal to win his third Australian Open and fifth overall Grand Slam title. Djokovic came back from a set down and a break down in a decider to win 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5.

It is not an exaggeration to use the word marathon to describe the five-set match as it lasted a record-setting 5 hours and 53 minutes. It was the longest final in a major the Open era, lasting nearly a full hour longer than the previous record holder – a 1988 U.S. Open match won by Mats Wilander over Ivan Lendl that lastaed 4:54. Granted that’s still not as long as the uber match of all time between John Isner and Nicholas Mahut that stretched out 11 hours, 5 minutes of play over three days in the 2010 Wimbledon tourney.

The 24-year-old Serbian superstar has  been dominant in recent matches against Nadal, winning all six meetings in 2011 and their first face-off in 2012. Nadal still holds an overall edge in head-to-head matches over Djokovic at 16-14.

The win gives Djokovic three straight major titles. Since the Open Era began in 1968 only only Aussie great Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Nadal have won three in a row. Laver is the only man to ever complete the Grand Slam sweep.

By the end of the match both players were too tired to put energy into either an extreme celebration or a bloody tennis tantrum.

On the women’s side, Victoria Azarenka routed Maria Sharapova yesterday to win her first Grand Slam title. With the 6-3, 6-0 win, Azarenka also took over the No. 1 spot in women’s tennis.

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