Andy Murray’s hopes to derail Roger Federer and become the first British/Scottish man to hold a Grand Slam trophy since Fred Perry were dashed Sunday.
He simply ran into a man who is better than all the rest. A man who after securing the first set is 171-5 in Majors against players not named Rafael Nadal. Yes, he is that good.
Federer’s record breeds confidence. Before the match, he said there was clearly more weight on Murray’s shoulders.
“I don’t really feel like the pressure is on me, having to do it again because I’ve done it before,” Federer said. “I think Andy really needs it more than I do, so I think the pressure is big on him.”
Federer plays a smooth get-it-done type of game. He is mentally strong and rarely gets rattled.
Murray had his chances on Federer’s serve but was just 2 of 8 when such opportunities arose. Federer broke 4 times and once to bring a 2-5 deficit back to 5-5 and force a tiebreak for the third set. Both these men are so good that they don’t need many tiebreaks. Early on in the year, Federer sat at 1-0 and Murray at 2-0.
Murray started with an ace in the tiebreak, one of 10 for him in the match, and took the early mini-break lead, but Federer fought back for 3-3. Murray went ahead 5-4 on another ace and 6-4 on a Federer error at the net. On his first of five set points, Murray also miscued on a ball at the net.
Murray hit a ball wide to tie it once again at 7. Federer served an ace to gain his first of three championship points.
A signature cross-court passing shot by Federer leveled the score at 9 apiece.
With the score even at 11, Federer wrong-footed Murray to go ahead 12-11 and forced a final error at the net to cap off the 13-11 tiebreak victory and his 16th Grand Slam title.
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