In another good day for the host nation, Gael Monfils and Nicolas Mahut triumphed in their respective Round 2 duels to join fellow countrymen Gilles Simon, Richard Gasquet and Guillaume Ruffin in the quarterfinals of the Open Sud de France at Montpellier. Also booking their designated last eight slots were top seed Tomas Berdych, a runaway winner over qualifier Florent Serra, and eighth seed Jarkko Nieminen who beat the former world No.12 Paul-Henri Mathieu.

In the first singles match on Court Central, the unseeded world no. 78 Nicolas Mahut upset sixth seeded German Florian Mayer 7-6, 6-3 in an hour and 22 minutes. The German, ranked 21 in the world, was playing in his first tournament of the year after having pulled out from the Australian Open due to a hip strain and had defeated Luxembourg's Gilles Muller in two tough sets in Round 1 of the event. On the other hand, Mahut had entered his home event on the back of a creditable performance at the Australian Open where he had lost to the eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the third round. He had booked a place in Round 2 here with a routine 6-3, 6-2 win against Spain's Albert Ramos.

The accolades - be it the No.1 ranking in the WTA list released on Monday or the Order of the Motherland medallion from the government of Belarus - have just started pouring in for the 22-year old Victoria Azarenka. After all those years of near misses, of injury breakdowns and psychological blow-ups, her triumph at the 2012 Australian Open is a definite signal of the transformation of the temperamental girl into a mature lady.

Her reaction after winning the 2012 Australian Open said it all. Overwhelmed with disbelief at what had just transpired, the still very young Azarenka almost went into a trance. After regaining consciousness, she ran across to her box and thanked her coach Sam Sumyk who, as if to assist in the 'sinking in' process, repeatedly reminded her that it was her moment.

686,006 tennis fanatics descended on Melbourne Park this summer for the 2012 edition of the Australian Open, smashing the previous record attendance of 653,860 set in 2010. A record daily attendance was achieved at 15 sessions this year, including a Grand Slam event daily attendance record on the middle Saturday, with 80,649 fans on site, up from 77,121 in 2011. Tennis was certainly alive and kicking in Melbourne this year.

Forty-seven nations were represented among the 256 players competing in main draw singles. There were 39countries represented in the men’s singles and 40 in the women’s draw. A total of 697 players competed across all events including 131 juniors, 20 wheelchair players and 22 legends of the game. Matches were officiated by 335 umpires and linespersons from 29 countries.

It ended with the primal scream of the man laying flat on his back as Novak Djokovic produced a career defining performance in overcoming Rafael Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-5 in a magnificent finale to the 100^th edition of the Australian Open. In a match that was definitely a slow burner, it exploded into incandescence at the end as the world’s best tennis players produced a gladiatorial contest that kept us engrossed for an exhausting 5hours 53minutes – the longest slam final ever. If we ever needed proof that Novak Djokovic has the heart, desire and willingness to give everything he’s got, we got all that and more as the Serb running on fumes overcame the greatest challenge he’s ever faced to win his 3^rd slam in a row. Equally, any doubts about Rafael Nadal were laid to rest as he threw the kitchen sink at Djokovic but came up just short in a 7^th consecutive loss to his rival.

It was a match of undulating fortunes as Novak’s sluggish start gave Nadal the early advantage before some vintage Djokovic tennis allowed him to dominate the middle portion of the match upto the brink of a four set win. Rafa however willed himself on in a display of bullishness characteristic of the man, and took control of a classic tie break to take the match into a decider. And what a scintillating decider it was! Rafa racing around like an Energiser bunny drew first blood breaking a seemingly exhausted Djokovic to take a 4-2 lead. But the Serb who moved like a wrapped up mummy between points, put in a reasonable impersonation of Superman during them, digging deep and finding a way to mount a comeback to take a famous victory. The emotions at the end were evident as the World No.1 took off his shirt and walked deliberately to his box letting loose a roar of glory right through. It isn’t very often that the cliché “tennis is the winner” is appropriately used, but this was most definitely living embodiment of that statement.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Horia Tecau were crowned the Australian Open Mixed Doubles Champions with a hard fought 6-3, 5-7, [10-3] win over the no.5 seeds Elena Vesnina and Leander Paes.

The Indo-Russian pair started the match very slowly, losing the first 8 points in a row to fall 2-0 behind in just 4 minutes. Leander in particular was considerably off-colour and did not appear to have his game face on in the first set.

Mattek-Sands and Tecau cruised through the opening set 6-3 and looked on course for an easy win as they went up an early break in the second set. The American - Romanian pair held on to that advantage till a short 6-7 minute rain delay halted the final.

It's the moment tennis fans have been waiting for. After a 13 day concoction consisting of the highs of victory and the lows of defeat, the 2012 Australian Open is geared up for an enthralling climax as the top two players in the world, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, clash for the prestigious Norman Brookes Challenge Cup on the hallowed Rod Laver Arena on Sunday evening. The players will become the first pair in the Open Era to face each other in three consecutive championship matches and quite unsurprisingly, the big question doing the rounds is: will Novak Djokovic overcome his respiratory problems to win his third Australian Open crown or will the 2009 champion Rafael Nadal dethrone him and add an 11th slam to his already glittering collection?

(Click here for the Match Report)

The defending champion Djokovic has had an interesting passage to the final. Djokovic began the tournament from where he left off last year, dominating his opposition from the word go. After demolishing his opponents in the first three rounds, he finally showed signs of being a mortal by losing his first set of the tournament in a Round 4 match against Aussie veteran Lleyton Hewitt. His next match, the quarter-final against David Ferrer, did see him gasping for breath in between but he eventually came through that one in straight sets.