MELBOURNE, Australia -- In what might have been the most important tennis match in history, Roger Federer made an emphatic case for the title of greatest male player ever.
Federer won a thrilling and bruising Australian Open final Sunday night, defeating Rafael Nadal 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
On Federer's second match point, he finished it with a forehand winner on the line that was challenged by Nadal and -- after an awkward but thrilling pause -- upheld by replay.
After missing six months of tennis from July to January, the 35-year-old Federer, who hadn't won a Grand Slam singles title since Wimbledon in 2012, improbably ran his major total to 18, four ahead of Nadal.