Andy Murray brought a fantastic summer of sport to a close last night as he won his first Grand Slam title.
The Scot faced defending U.S. Open champion Novak Djokovic in the final last night and became the first British man to lift a grand slam title since Fred Perry seventy six years ago.
It has been a very successful summer for the British number one as he reached the Wimbledon final for the very first time - losing to Roger Federer.
But just a couple of weeks later Murray and Federer would face each other again at SW19 and this time it was for Olympic gold - a match Murray won in emphatic fashion.
But it was far from a straight forward win for Murray a Flushing Meadows last night as he took five sets and nearly five hours to see off the challenge from Djokovic.
It was Murray that seemed to look more confident at the start of the match as he broke Djokovic on two occasions to edge ahead, only to be pegged back by the former world number one.
Level at 6-6 a tie break was needed to decide the destination of the first set and it was to be a passage of high quality and scintillating play from the pair.
Murray needed six set point chances before he finally closed out the tie-break 12-10.
Into the second set and it was Murray who had the momentum on his side as he quickly opened up a 4-0 lead.
But closing out the set was far from a formality as Djokovic came roaring back to get the set back on serve. But Murray held his nerve and broke for a third time in the set to take it 7-5.
Murray's level dropped a little in the third set and Djokovic was able to control much of the play as he dropped just two games to take it 6-2 and close the gap on Murray.
And the match would go to a fifth and deciding set as Djokovic took the fourth and looked to try and become the first man to come from two sets down and win the U.S. Open since Pancho Gonzales back in 1949.
Djokovic may have clawed his way back but Murray's head never dropped and he made the perfect start to final set as a double break saw him take a 3-0 lead.
Although he did surrender one of the breaks to see Djokovic just 3-2 behind a love service hold in the sixth game saw him maintain his advantage.
And that advantage proved to be enough as he served out the match at the first time of asking to seal a famous 7-6 (12-10) 7-5 2-6 3-6 6-2 victory.
Speaking to the BBC about the moment that he knew the title was his Murray said "When I realised I had won, I was a little bit shocked, I was very relieved and I was very emotional.
The Scot will now move up to number three in the world rankings.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
by Helen Earnshaw
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