Written by Liam Ray
The Australian Open ended with the most unlikely winner. Stanislas Wawrinka, the new Swiss no.1, ending Roger Federer’s 13 year reign there, lifted the men’s singles trophy.
He beat multiple grand slam winner Rafael Nadal in four sets to clinch his maiden major victory and delay Nadal’s bid to level Pete Sampras’s tally of 14 titles.
Wawrinka burst out of the blocks, breaking Nadal early on to lead 4-1 and he never looked back.
Nadal, who was evidently troubled with a back injury, was two sets down at the point when he called on the trainer for treatment.
The Spaniard recovered somewhat to snatch the third set to reduce the deficit to just one.
However, Wawrinka overcame a tough mental test in a topsy turvy final set to win it 6-3 and become the Australian Open champion.
His muted celebrations reflected the strange circumstances that his victory followed.
Nevertheless, he became only the second player to break the big four’s stranglehold on grand slam titles (along with Juan Martin del Potro) since Marat Safin won the same tournament in 2005.
Meanwhile, in the women’s draw, Li Na won her second grand slam title after beating Dominika Cibulkova 7-6 6-0.
The Chinese was the strong favourite over her Slovakian opponent who was making her first appearance in a major final.
Li managed to power through to a well deserved win after an edgy first set which saw many unforced errors.
She clinched the tie break 7-3 and used the momentum to oust her 20th seed opponent in the second set.
After the match Li revealed that she was delighted to win her first Australian Open title after reaching two finals before.
She said: “I’m so glad I finally got her [the trophy] because the last two finals were very close.