Federer beats Murray to make it five at US Open

Reuters

Switzerland's Roger Federer has won his fifth straight US Open title, thumping Britain's Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 in the final on Monday.

It’s the first Grand Slam win this season for Federer and the 13th in his collection. He is now just one behind Pete Sampras’s overall record.

“I played great. I felt like I was invincible for a while again and that’s exactly how you want to finish a tournament,” said Federer.

The 27-year-old Swiss sent Murray on the run in the sixth game of the opening set, and three successive errors from the Scot handed Federer the break.

Federer capitalised on his advantage to charge 2-0 ahead in the second set but Murray suddenly found his range and started playing Federer’s territory with winners to level at 2-2.

But Federer conjured up a dazzling array of backhand, forehand and volley winners to claim successive points and break Murray again for the set.

The young Briton finally ran out of puff in the third set, only winning three points as Federer stormed 5-0 up.

Triumph

Observers were impressed by Federer’s precise footwork, his touch and the impeccable timing during the final at Flushing Meadows.

It was Murray’s first Grand Slam final and he had one other disadvantage over Federer: the Scot was back in the Arthur Ashe stadium less than 24 hours after beating world number one, Rafael Nadal of Spain, in the semifinal.

Federer celebrated his win by sinking to his knees and rolling over on to his back and covering his eyes with his hands.

“One thing is for sure. I’m not going to stop at 13. That would be terrible,” he said in reference to his collection of Grand Slam titles.

The triumph breathed new life into what had been a frustrating season for the Swiss master, who has a total 56 singles titles to his count.

Federer played Murray only once before this season when he suffered a first-round defeat against the Scot at the ATP tournament of Dubai.

Difficult season

Federer, who suffered from a bout of glandular fever at the beginning of the year, has won only one of the four Grand Slam titles this year.

He lost his top ranking to Nadal in August after a record 235 weeks as world number one.

The Swiss was defeated twice by Nadal in the final at Wimbledon and at the French Open. He went out in the semifinal of the Australian Open against world number three, Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

At the Summer Olympics in August Federer crashed out in the quarterfinal against American James Blake.

However, Federer and his compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka, won gold in the men’s doubles in Beijing.

Federer also lifted the trophy at the ATP tournaments of Estoril, Portugal, and Halle, Germany.

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

ATP Rankings (September 9):

1. Rafael Nadal, 7,000 points
2. Roger Federer, 5,930
3. Novak Djokovic, 4,855

In brief

The US Open is Federer’s 13th grand slam title, one short of Pete Sampras’s record.

He has won five times at Flushing Meadows, five times at Wimbledon and three titles at the Australian Open. But the French Open title still eludes him.

Grand Slam titles (open era):
14: Pete Sampras
13: Roger Federer
11: Björn Borg
8: Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl