Australian Open 2018: Comebacks, upsets, Roger Federer's greatness, the rise of women's tennis and fruit

Had it not been for Federer's fairy tale story, the women's draw would have dominated the men's just like it did last year, while Tennys Sandgren and Bernard Tomic didn't help matters any further

Roger Federer won his 20th Grand Slam title by beating Marin Cilic in the Australian Open final (Getty)

Match of the tournament

Simona Halep’s 4-6, 6-4, 15-13 victory over Lauren Davis in the third round. Davis, one of the quickest women on tour, played the match of her life. Halep was triple match point down at one stage but recovered to win the longest women’s match of the fortnight at three hours and 44 minutes.

Shot of the tournament

The cross-court backhand which Caroline Wozniacki hit on the penultimate point of her victory over Simona Halep in the final. Halep appeared to have Wozniacki on the run, but the Dane converted defence into attack with one stunning shot which opened up the court, enabling her to hit a winner and set up match point.

Comeback of the tournament

Caroline Wozniacki trailed by 5-1 and 40-15 in the final set against Jana Fett in the second round but saved both match points and went on to win six games in a row to stay in the tournament.

Best newcomer

Marta Kostyuk, who at 15 became the youngest player to win a match at the Australian Open when she beat the No 25 seed, Peng Shuai, in the first round. The Ukrainian went on to beat Olivia Rogowska before losing to her fellow countrywoman, Elina Svitolina.

15-year-old Marta Kostyuk made it through to the third round (Getty)

Biggest winner

Women’s tennis. Nearly all the best matches of the tournament were in the women’s singles, continuing last year’s trend. Had it not been for Roger Federer winning his 20th Grand Slam title, the men’s tournament might have been considered something of a damp squib.

Saddest sight

Rafael Nadal having to retire with a hip injury during the final set of his quarter-final against Marin Cilic. Every tournament in which the Spaniard plays loses some of its sparkle when he goes out.

Rafael Nadal was forced to withdraw with injury (Getty) (Getty Images)

Quote of the tournament (Johanna Konta)

“I went to the supermarket to buy blueberries. I only bought blueberries, two punnets. I left two punnets of blueberries there. It's A$5 I won't get back. It's actually more the betrayal in my own mind I feel so upset about. I was so sad. Clearly I'm not over the blueberry debacle.”

Funniest moment of the tournament

Denis Shapovalov struggling to unpeel a banana at a changeover.

Biggest disappointment of the tournament

Alexander Zverev’s continuing failure to perform at his best at Grand Slam level. The world No 4, who has never beaten a top 50 opponent in a Grand Slam tournament, was knocked out by Hyeon Chung, the world No 58.

Upset of the tournament

Garbine Muguruza, the Wimbledon champion, was beaten in the second round by Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh, who had knocked out Johanna Konta in the first round at last year’s US Open.

Caroline Wozniacki beat Simona Halep in the women's final (Getty)

Best British performance

Kyle Edmund’s quarter-final victory over Grigor Dimitrov, the world No 3. He became the first British man other than Andy Murray to reach the semi-finals here for 41 years.

Kyle Edmund made it to the semi-finals for the first time at a Grand Slam (Getty)

Best Australian performance

Nick Kyrgios may have lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round, but his more mature attitude bodes well for his future prospects. In terms of pure ability he is the most talented player of his generation.

Best innovation

The new system whereby players can be fined heavily for underperforming in the first round because they are unfit or not well enough to play at their best. The fines have been introduced to try to stop injured players starting the tournament just so that they can collect their prize money. Germany’s Mischa Zverev, who had a virus, was fined $36,000 (about £25,500) after retiring only 48 minutes of his first-round match against Hyeon Chung.

Biggest media storm

Tennys Sandgren. The 26-year-old American faced repeated questions about his political views because of the right-wing figures he followed on Twitter. Sandgren, who denied that he agreed with the alt right, later deleted his entire Twitter account.

Tennys Sandgren faced a backlash over his political views (Getty)

Biggest fall from grace

Bernard Tomic, who was world No 17 two years ago, is now down to No 168 in the world rankings after losing in the third round of qualifying to Lorenzo Sonego. Tomic told reporters afterwards: “I just count money, that’s all I do. I count my millions. You go do what I did [on court]. Bye-bye.”