US Open Betting / Sean Calvert / 09 September 2008 /

Sean Calvert gets an early night after Roger Federer disposes of Andy Murray in straight sets.

Day 15 in New York and there was just the small matter of the 2008 US Open Men's Singles Final to be decided.

Andy Murray was trying to become the first Brit to get his hands on a Grand Slam trophy since his clothing sponsor Fred Perry in 1936 after his stunning win over world number one Rafa Nadal on Sunday.

Standing in his way was the four-time defending champion Roger Federer, whom Murray had beaten on the last two occasions the pair had met. Anticipation for this one was at unprecedented levels.

Could Murray reproduce the level of tennis that blew Nadal away or would we see the Andy Murray who lost in the first round of the Olympics?

Federer for his part had stuttered through the early rounds without producing anything like his best form, but had improved markedly in his win over Novak Djokovic in the semi finals. Was he pacing himself and hitting top gear at the right time?

There was a strong wind blustering around a shamefully half empty Arthur Ashe Stadium Court for the start of the match and Federer started with equal strength to win the first game to love.

The Swiss had break points in Murray's second service game and broke in his third to take a 4-2 lead in the first set. Early nerves from the Scot? Or business as usual for the defending champion?

Perhaps a bit of both, but Federer was back to the champion of old in the first set and he broke Murray again to cruise the opener 6-2.

Murray's hugely impressive first serve, which crucified Nadal was nowhere to be seen and the Scot needed to improve his level considerably to have any chance of an upset.

His price had drifted from around [2.86] to [5.8] at the start of the second, which began in the same confident manner for Federer, who could be backed at [1.17] after the opening game of the set.

Mark Petchey in his usual informative manner, enlightened us with the fact that Fred Perry also lost the first set by 6-2 in his 1936 triumph, but Murray was looking anything but a champion-in-waiting as Federer closed in on his sixth consecutive game.

He needed just the one chance to take it and move 2-0 ahead in the set and it looked like the final night of the US Open would be my earliest for a fortnight as Federer displayed the kind of shots that became his trademark in recent years.

Murray is made of stern stuff these days though and a couple of blistering returns allowed the number six seed to break free of his shackles and break back to love. Was this the start of the comeback? wondered Petchey.

It certainly seemed like it as Federer lost his seventh point in a row on serve to hand Murray three break points to take the lead for the first time in the match, but an error of judgement from Murray denied him the opportunity.

A Federer sliced backhand went just long at 15-40, but unsure of where exactly the ball landed, Murray failed to challenge and played on - a decision that cost him as the Swiss eventually held for a 3-2 lead.

The Scot, as is his wont, had a lengthy moan at umpire Carlos Bernades during the changeover about the call, but the point that Murray should have been concentrating on was that he was back in the game and worrying Federer.

The inconsistency that Federer has shown all year was back and Murray simply had to take advantage at this stage of the match if he was to have any chance.

He was unable to capitalise on a number of half chances though and we reached 5-5 in the set with no further breaks and a tie break beckoned.

Federer held for 6-5, but sadly for the British contingent on Ashe, Murray was broken to love in the next to go two sets down.

The last time that the men's singles title had been won from two sets behind was in 1947 when Jack Kramer beat Frank Parker, so Murray was chasing some very aged records if he was to emerge victorious.

In fact the US Open final has only twice gone to five sets in the last 20 years and Murray was out to [18.5] to buck the trend.

That price went out to [40.0] after the second game of set number three when Federer broke to love and my early night was becoming less of a possibility and more of a certainty. The thing that will rile Murray the most is that he played the better tennis in set two - despite what Rusedski would have you believe.

Federer held for 3-0 and Murray was about done moments later as he was broken to love again for a double break and the trophy engraver must have been halfway through the name 'Roger Federer' next to the date of 2008 US Open champion by this point.

Murray looked out on his feet in much the same way that Nadal did on Sunday and Federer wasn't going to hang around, winning another love service game to go 5-0 up.

At least the Scot avoided the dreaded bagel by winning game six to make Federer serve it out, but to everyone's surprise he couldn't do it and Murray pulled it back to 5-2 to earn a quote of [80.0] for the unlikliest comeback of all-time.

It wasn't to be of course and for the second successive evening in New York, the player in red prevailed, although this time there was a typically understated response from Federer, although he did fall to the floor in his now familiar celebratory style.

Croft and Rusedski as usual went way over the top in the studio and from proclaiming Andy Murray as an unbeatable legend of the game the previous day, Rusedski now hailed Federer as unbelievable.

Yes, the Swiss played well, but not unbeatably well as the fickle former finalist embarassingly gushed.

As usual Peter Fleming was much closer to reality in his surmising of events and behind him down on the playing surface of Ashe the stars and stripes were out to witness the presentation of the trophy to Mr Roger Federer once more.

So, it's all over for another year and my body clock can hopefully return to something approaching normality.

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