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By defeating Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in the men's singles final of the 2021 Australian Open on February 21. 2021, Novak Djokovic claimed his ninth Australian Open and 18th Grand Slam title overall.

MAGICAL NUMBERS

Nine and counting - Victory at the 2021 Australian Open gave Novak Djokovic his ninth Australian Open title, allowing him to extend his existing record of most Australian Open titles won by a male player. Djokovic, in fact, is only the fourth player to win nine or more titles at the same Grand Slam. Rafael Nadal heads that list with 13 French Open men's singles titles, with Margaret Court (11 Australian Open women's singles titles) and Martina Navratilova (9 Wimbledon women's singles titles) coming in second and third. Djokovic however, is only the third player to achieve the feat in the Open Era (1968 onwards), as seven of Court's 11 Australian Open victories came before the Open Era began.

Final frontier? No problem! Djokovic has now made it to the final of the Australian Open on nine different occasions. On each of these nine occasions. Djokovic has emerged victorious and lifted the title 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2020, giving him a 9-0 record at Australian Open finals. Only Nadal, who has a 13-0 record in French Open finals, has a better record for most wins without a loss in finals at any major in the Open Era.

WITHIN REACHING DISTANCE

Two short of Federer, Nadal - Already second in the list of Grand Slam winners in men's singles in the Open Era, Djokovic closed in on leaders Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal with his 18th Grand Slam victory. With both Federer and Nadal having 20 Grand Slam titles so far, Djokovic will be eyeing to close in further later this year.

One behind Serena - With nine Australian Open titles and three US Open titles, Djokovic has won 12 of his 18 Grand slam titles on hardcourts. His latest victory helped him break the tie with Federer and Djokovic now has the most for any man. When considering men and women, however, Djokovic is second behind Serena Williams, who has won 13 majors on hardcourts.

PLAYING DJOKOVIC AT AO ISN'T A JOKE

Top dog - Out of Djokovic's nine Australian Open titles, six have come when he has entered the tournament as the top seed. This means that Djokovic has a 42-0 record (you need to win seven matches at a Grand Slam event to lift the title) in the Australian Open as the No. 1 seed.

Getting faster - Djokovic required just an hour and 53 minutes to dispatch Daniil Medvedev in the final, making it the shortest of 28 Grand Slam finals that he has been a part of. His previous shortest also came at the Australian Open when he defeated Nadal in two hours and four minutes in the 2019 final.

 

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The first of four Tests between India and England that was played in Chennai from February 5-9, 2021 was England skipper Joe Root's 100th Test match. He celebrated it in style, as he top-scored for his side in both innings and helped them register an important victory.

Victory was made sweeter for Root by the fact that he had made the highest individual score by any cricketer playing their 100th Test. His first innings knock of 218, in fact, was the first time a player playing his 100th Test had scored a double hundred.

With his first innings knock of 218, England captain Joe Root became just the ninth cricketer in Test cricket history to score a century in their 100th Test match. His innings, which spanned 536 minutes (four minutes short of nine hours!) and included 19 fours and 2 sixes, helped his side post a huge total of 578 in the innings. That went a long way towards ensuring that England won the first Test by 227 runs.

Root's 218 is the highest Test score by an English batsman in India, surpassing the previous best of 207 scored by Mike Gatting in 1985, also in Chennai.

Joe Root became the first batsman in Test history to score a double hundred in their 100th Test match.

Root, who played his 100th Test against India, also played his 1st and 50th Test against the same opposition.

Players who scored a hundred in their hundredth test match

• Englands Colin Cowdrey scored 104 against Australia at Birmingham in July 1968


• Pakistan's Javed Miandad scored 145 against India at Lahore in December 1989


• West Indies Gordon Greenidge scored 149 against England at Antigua in April 1990


• England's Alec Stewart scored 105 against West Indies at Manchester in August 2000


• Pakistan's Inzamam-ul-Haq scored 184 against India at Bengaluru in March 2005


• Australia Ricky Ponting scored 120 and 143 not out against South Africa at Sydney in January 2006


• South Africa's Graeme Smith scored 131 against England at London in July 2012


• South Africa's Hashim Amla scored 134 against Sri Lanka at Johannesburg in January 2017


• Englands Joe Root scored 218 against India at Chennai in February 2021.

Top three scores by a player playing their 100th test:

Joe Root

England Batting style: Right-hand bat Bowling style: Right-arm offbreak Date of birth December 30. 1990 Scored 218 in his 100th Test against India at Chennai in February 2021.

Inzamam-ul Haq

Pakistan Batting style: Right hand bat Date of birth: March 3, 1970 Scored 184 in his 100th Test, also against India at Bengaluru in March 2005. Inzamam's mark was the highest score by a player in his 100th Test for over 15 years, till Root went past it.

Gordon Greenidge

West Indies Batting style: Right-hand bat Date of birth: May 1, 1951 Scored 149 in his 100th Test against England at Antigua in April 1990, going past the previous best set by Javed Miandad (145) just months back.

 

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On February 2, 2021, Manchester United played Southampton in an English Premier League game. United came out on top in stunning fashion, pumping nine goals past their opposition in a 9-0 victory.

This was only the third time in Premier League history that a side won by a nine-goal margin.

Manchester United achieved a 9-0 margin victory for a second time when they achieved the feat in February 2021 Southampton, unfortunately, had the ignominy of being on the receiving end of such a defeat for a second time.

United also equalled the all-time Premier League record for most goalscorers (7) for a team in a match, a record set by Chelsea when they beat Aston Villa 8-0 in December 2012. While Anthony Martial scored twice. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Marcus Rashford, Edinson Cavani, Scott McTominay. Bruno Femandes (right in right and third from left above) and Daniel James all scored one goal Southampton's Jan Bednarek scored an own goal.

Manchester United were the first team to win a Premier League match by nine goals. They did it in March 1995 and it was Ipswich Town at the receiving end.

United had four different goalscorers in this 9-0 victory. Andy Cole (left and centre in right) was clearly the hero of the match as he scored a phenomenal five goals himself. A brace from Mark Hughes and a goal each from Roy Keane and Paul Ince was also part of the rout.

The five goals scored by Cole was a record for the most goals scored by a footballer in a single Premier League game. The record still stands, but Cole now shares it with Alan Shearer, Jermain Defoe, Dimitar Berbatov and Sergio Aguero.

More than 24 years after Manchester United had set their record it was finally equalled by another team when Leicester City ran riot against Southampton.

The match played at Southampton in October 2019, and 0-9 as Leicester City had five different goalscorers. While there were hat-tricks for both Ayoze Perez (right in left) and Jamie Vardy, Ben Chilwell, Youri Tielemans and James Maddison also got on the score sheet.

This victory, which is the biggest away win in the history of English top-flight football, remains the only 90 margin win achieved by an away team.

 

Picture Credit : Google