Author RSS Feed Your Options Tennis: Federer wins fifth US Open in a row for 13th Grand Slam title Roger Federer won his 13th Grand Slam crown and fifth consecutive US Open title on Monday, defeating British sixth seed Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 to move one Slam title shy of the all-time record.
Federer's 56th career crown moved him into sole possession of
second place on the all-time Slam title list, one more than Roy Emerson
and one below the career record 14 won by Pete Sampras.
"One thing is for sure. I'm not going to stop at 13," Federer said. "That would be terrible."
After losing this year's Wimbledon and French Open finals and his
number one ranking to Spain's Rafael Nadal, Federer's aura of
invincibility had dimmed but his victory Monday served notice he still
remains a force in the sport.
"It definitely feels great," Federer said. "This is a very special moment
in my career. To take this one home is incredible. It means the world to me."
Swiss second seed Federer stretched his US Open match win streak to 34 and took home the top prize of 1.5 million US dollars.
It took Federer 38 Slam appearances to win his 13th Slam, five
fewer than Sampras needed to reach the same mark. It was Federer's 17th
Slam final, two shy of Ivan Lendl's all-time record.
Murray, playing in his first Slam final, had won two of three prior
matches with Federer but was outclassed to bring a disappointing end to
a run that will see him rise to fourth in the rankings, matching the
best-ever British mark.
"I had a great tournament," Murray said. "Came up against, in my
opinion, the greatest player to ever play the game. I got the best of
him the last two times we played. He definitely set the record
straight."
Asked what he had learned, Murray replied, "I've got a lot of improving to do if I want to win one of these."
Federer, 27, thrilled a sellout crowd of 23,763 at Arthur Ashe
Stadium in the first US Open final since 1987 pushed to Monday by bad
weather. It was the first Monday men's Slam final since Goran
Ivanisevic won at Wimbledon in 2001.
Federer became the first man to win five Slams in a row at two
different events, having also completed the feat last year at
Wimbledon. No one had won five US titles in a row since Bill Tilden in
1924.
Murray joined a victims list for Federer in US Open finals that
also includes Australian Lleyton Hewitt in 2004, Americans Andre Agassi
in 2005 and Andy Roddick in 2006 and Serbian Novak Djokovic last year.
The 21-year-old Scotsman would have been the first British man to
win a Grand Slam since Fred Perry captured the 1936 US Open and the
first Briton of either sex to win a Slam singles title since Virginia
Wade won at Wimbledon in 1977.
Murray's loss was the fifth for a British man in a Slam final since
Perry's triumph, including Greg Rusedski at the 1997 US Open, John
Lloyd at the 1977 Australian Open and Bunny Austin at the 1937 French
Open and 1938 Wimbledon.
Murray netted a backhand to give Federer a break chance in the
sixth game, then sent a forehand wide to fall behind 4-2. Federer held
and broke again to finish the first set in 27 minutes when Murray sent
a backhand wide.
Federer swatted a forehand cross-court winner to break Murray again
in the second game of the second set for a 2-0 lead, but Murray broke
back at love, held to 2-2 and went up 0-40 on Federer's serve in the
fifth game.
On the next three critical points, Federer summoned his Swiss
precision and denied Murray, twice on forehand winners and the last on
his third overhead smash of the key point, on the way to holding serve.
The turning point came in the final game of the second set with
Murray serving to try and force a tie-breaker. Federer hit a backhand
volley winner and an overhead smash to reach 0-40 and broke for the set
on a forehand winner.
That seemed to take the spirit from the gallant Scot as Federer broke at love in the second and fourth games of the third set.
Federer served for the match up 5-1 and was two points from the
title, but Murray smacked a forehand winner and stole back a break when
Federer netted a backhand.
Murray double faulted in the eighth game to give Federer his first
championship point but saved it with a backhand volley winner.
Federer claimed another title chance with a forehand winner and won
the final point after three overhand smashes, the last of which the
desperate Briton sent into the net to end matters after one hour and 51
minutes.
Federer fell to his knees and then rolled onto his back, overcome
with the moment as he screamed his joy before rising and raising his
hands in a victory salute to the crowd.
Murray, who ousted Nadal in the semi-finals, took home 750,000 US
dollars in runner-up money plus a 250,000-US-dollar bonus from
organizers for his results in US Open tuneup events.
Murray would have been the first man to beat the world's two
top-ranked men in the same Grand Slam event since Sergi Bruguera at the
1993 French Open.
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