Novak Djokovic sealed his 15th Grand Slam and third in a row with an emphatic performance.
Novak Djokovic crushed Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open to win his third straight grand slam and record seventh title at Melbourne Park.
Djokovic prevailed 6-3 6-2 6-3 in their 53rd clash to continue his mastery over the Spaniard, having now topped Nadal in eight straight hard-court matches and in nine of their last 11 duels altogether.
When they met in 2012 final, it lasted a record five hours, 53 minutes. Such was Djokovic's display Sunday that he saw off Nadal in little over two hours.
Now on 15 majors, Djokovic took sole possession of third place on the men's all-time list, passing Pete Sampras.
He pulled to within two of Nadal and five of men's leader Roger Federer.
The 31-year-old Serb is now also on course to complete the "Novak Slam" – winning four straight majors – for the second time. He became the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to land four straight, from 2015-2016.
The expectation had been that this would be another epic battle between the unstoppable forces against the immovable object, but Djokovic had not read the script.
Nadal had failed to beat Djokovic on a hard court since 2013 and it showed as he made an inauspicious start with Djokovic racing out of the blocks, losing just one point on serve in a flawless display, wrapping up the set 6-3 after 36 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
Djokovic sealed an early break for a 2-1 lead in the third before backing it up as 17-time major winner Nadal faced a straight sets defeat in the final of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.
The Spaniard created his first break point of the final in the sixth game but netted his backhand return. He continued to fight tooth and nail to stay in touch, but Djokovic was proving a class apart and it wasn't long before he wrapped up the win with his second championship point when Nadal fired long.
