Federer streamrolls Murray for fifth U.S. Open title

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) - In a season where he lost both his long-standing top ranking and his dominance at Wimbledon, Roger Federer still has Flushing Meadows.

Federer won his fifth straight title at the U.S. Open with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Andy Murray of Great Britain on Monday.

It was the 13th career Grand Slam crown for the Swiss star, closing him within one of tying Pete Sampras for the all-time record.

Becoming the first player in the Open era to win five consecutive crowns at the U.S. Open, Federer claimed seven breaks of serve en route to a 34th straight win at the year’s final Grand Slam. He also equaled Sampras and Jimmy Connors for the most career U.S. Open titles with five.

“It feels great. This is definitely a special moment in my career,” Federer said. “I’ve had a couple of tough Grand Slams this year, so to take this one home is incredible. It means the world to me.”

Federer became the first player to win five straight titles at two separate Grand Slams, also accomplishing the feat at Wimbledon before his bid for a sixth crown was denied by Rafael Nadal in a dramatic five-setter that is strongly considered the greatest match of all time.

Playing in his first tournament without the world’s top ranking since the Australian Open in 2004, the second-seeded Swiss admitted that it was a motivating factor for success at the New York tournament.

“I was always positive, you know. I knew that if things go my way, and this year hasn’t always been the case,” Federer said. “You know, I lost quite a few matches I should have never lost, and they hurt. Now, getting the fifth U.S. Open, it really means a lot to me. I really thank the fans, as well, the crowds. They were great. I mean, from the beginning, that’s really what I was hoping for.

“And losing my No. 1 ranking, that’s also what meant a lot to me this season. So to bounce back straightaway after losing the No. 1 ranking, this is the best scenario ever.”

Federer notched three breaks in the decisive set, picking up the final one in the eighth game when Murray’s shot after an overhead smash by Federer went into the net.

Murray, 21, was making his first appearance in a Grand Slam final after disposing of world No. 1 Nadal on Sunday in a match that was suspended due to Saturday’s rain.

The Scot was just the second British male to play for the U.S. Open title in the Open era and first since an unseeded Greg Rusedski in 1997.

Fred Perry was the last British man to claim this title back in 1936.

It was not to be, though, as Federer proved to his critics that he is far from being an afterthought in the game.

“I had a great tournament but I came up against, in my opinion, the best player ever to play the game today,” Murray said.

Despite waiting until the year’s last Grand Slam to claim his first hardcourt title of the year, Federer has had a showing this season that would be worthy of any other player. After losing in the Australian Open semifinal to Novak Djokovic, he ended up as the finalist at both the French Open and Wimbledon to Nadal before claiming Olympic gold in doubles with Swiss teammate Stanislas Wawrinka in Beijing prior to another successful trip to Flushing Meadows.

Federer also avenged a loss earlier in the year to Murray, who came back from a set down in the first round in Dubai in March. It was the Brit’s second straight win over the Swiss star dating back to Cincinnati in 2006.

“I had got the better of him the last two times we played and he definitely set the record straight, so congratulations to him,” Murray said.

Federer stormed into the final with a four-set victory over third seed Djokovic in the semis on Saturday and had the opportunity to enjoy an extra day’s rest while Murray was battling Nadal on Sunday.

He looked supremely confident from the start, with his forehand immaculate and his mobility excellent as he broke Murray to go ahead 4-2 in the first set and then stepped it up further to capture the opening set in just 27 minutes.

Murray had dug deep in the third round to come from two sets down to beat Austria’s Jurgen Melzer but no player had lost the first set in a U.S. Open final and gone on to win since Stefan Edberg in 1991.

Federer took his fifth straight game to open the second set and added a sixth by breaking Murray once again. It stopped right there as the Brit managed to break back at love to prevent himself from being put in a very tough hole.

Murray then held his serve comfortably to draw even at 2-2 and he won the next three points on Federer’s serve to earn another triple break point following another loose volley at the net from the second seed.

Federer saved the first by stretching Murray with a series of thundering forehands but Murray should have wrapped the game up in a similar rally on the next point when a forehand by Federer appeared long but play continued to the defending champion’s benefit.

Murray gave the line judge a criticizing look but having chosen not to challenge it right away he could do nothing to reverse the situation and Federer went on to hold serve as a television replay showed the ball had indeed been long.

With Murray serving to send the set into a tiebreak at 6-5, Federer re-emerged from a mid-set lull to convert the first of three set points, punishing a drop shot at the net with a winner down the line.

Having matched Federer throughout the set, Murray still found himself down 2-0 and with a mountain to climb as the 12-time Grand Slam winner celebrated with a huge roar.

“I didn’t really have any chance in the first set, but I had an opportunity in the second set to go up a break, and a few opportunities,” Murray said. “One of them, he actually missed a backhand, which should have been my game, I think for me. It would have been—not necessarily would have won the match or anything, but it would have given me a bit of confidence. I wasn’t really ahead in any of the sets.”

Murray’s exertions in the previous rounds, with epic performances against Michael Llodra, Melzer, Juan Martin Del Potro and Nadal, finally appeared to have caught up to him as Federer broke his serve in the second game of the third set.

While the Brit did not throw in the towel, coming up with a stretched return off a skidding drop shot that went for a winner against an astonished Federer.

Still, Murray was no match for the defending champion and soon surrendered a triple break point that Federer hammered home with a backhand to take a 4-0 lead.

Murray finally got on the scoreboard at 4-1 to great cheers from the New York crowd and they got even louder as he broke back in the next game.

However, Federer kept the pressure up with victory in sight. Although he was denied a initial championship point, Federer struck again with a series of overheads that finally forced Murray to succumb.

Murray, who did appear to struggle with some right knee pain at times in the match, does have a silver lining over his effort here in the past two weeks, moving up to a career-best ranking of fourth in the world.

“I’ve been getting consistently better this year,” he said. “Each month I’ve been making improvements. My results have got better. I won Cincinnati, which was my first very big tournament.

And a lot of things have gotten much better, but these are the tournaments that I think all tennis players really, really want to win. I didn’t do it tonight, and I’m going to have to work very hard to do it some day.”