An emotional Roger Federer was forced to fight back his tears after winning his 20th grand slam title on Sunday. Second-seeded Federer defeated Croatia's Marin Cilic to claim his sixth Australian Open title today.
After the three-hour three-minute clash, when Federer held the trophy in his hands, the 36-year-old Swiss broke down in tears as he thanked his team and his fans.
"And my team, I love you guys. Thank you," Federer said with a quivering voice before breaking down in tears.
The 36-year-old Swiss defeated Croatia's Marin Cilic 6-2 6-7(5) 6-3 3-6 6-1 in the final to claim his sixth Australian Open title. This was Federer's seventh Australian Open final and 30th Grand Slam final.
He joined Novak Djokovic and Roy Emerson as the only men to win six Australian Open trophies.
With 20 trophies, Federer now has four more grand slam titles than his great rival Rafael Nadal.
Cilic, who knocked out an ailing Nadal in the quarter-finals, showed plenty of courage in his first final appearance at the event to come back from a break and take the match into a deciding fifth set.
The sixth seed, playing in his first Australian Open final, showed great resolve. But despite his big hitting, he could not stop Federer from running away with the title.
He saved break points at 1-1, 2-2 and 4-4 in the second set before crunching some huge forehands in the tiebreaker to level the match against all the odds.
Federer won the third set with a single break of serve but from a position of strength in the fourth he began to fade and lost five games on the spin as an increasingly dangerous Cilic dragged a slow-burning final into a decider.
Defending champion Federer regrouped though and after fighting off a break point at the start of the fifth, Cilic's resistance crumbled as the crowd roared Federer on to victory.
(With Reuters inputs)
