Rafael Nadal claims historic 21st grand slam – final day at the Australian Open

The story of the final day of action from Melbourne Park.

Rafael Nadal celebrated an epic win over Daniil Medvedev on Sunday (Andy Brownbill/AP) (AP)

Rafael Nadal broke away from his rivals by winning a 21st grand slam title in extraordinary fashion to bring the Australian Open to a close.

Nadal recovered from two sets down to defeat Daniil Medvedev 2-6 6-7 (5) 6-4 6-4 7-5 in a match that lasted five hours and 24 minutes and finished at 1.11am.

The Spaniard is the first man in history to reach 21 slam titles, one ahead of both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic

Picture of the day

Rafael Nadal celebrates his 21st grand slam title (Simon Baker/AP) (AP)

Quote of the day

The support I received through the three weeks is going to stay in my heart for the rest of my life.

Rafael Nadal

Tweet of the day

Czech mate

Roll of honour

Men’s singles: Rafael Nadal (Spain)Women’s singles: Ashleigh Barty (Australia)Men’s doubles: Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis (Australia)Women’s doubles: Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic)Mixed doubles: Kristina Mladenovic (France) and Ivan Dodig (Croatia)Boys’ singles: Bruno Kuzuhara (USA)Girls’ singles: Petra Marcinko (Croatia)Boys’ doubles: Bruno Kuzuhara (USA) and Coleman Wong (Hong Kong)Girls’ doubles: Clervie Ngounoue (USA) and Diana Shnaider (Russia)Men’s wheelchair singles: Shingo Kunieda (Japan)Women’s wheelchair singles: Diede De Groot (Netherlands)Men’s wheelchair doubles: Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid (Great Britain)Women’s wheelchair doubles: Diede De Groot and Aniek Van Koot (Netherlands)Quad wheelchair singles: Sam Schroder (Netherlands)Quad wheelchair doubles: Andy Lapthorne (Great Britain) and David Wagner (USA)