Tearful Murray succumbs to awesome Federer

Andy Murray's dreams of becoming the first Briton to win a Grand Slam since Fred Perry in 1936 evaporated in Melbourne as he was outplayed by a rampant Roger Federer. And as long as the Swiss master stays on the scene there would seem to be little chance of Murray ending that drought.

It was the second time that Federer has beaten Murray in a Grand Slam final, and the new Australian Open champion shows no sign of losing his hunger. He promised to be back next year and said he hoped his children would be there to watch him win yet another crown.

Federer has now won 16 Grand Slams and became the first father to take one since Andre Agassi in 2003.

He did offer a ray of hope to a distraught Murray, telling him: "You're too good a player not to win a Grand Slam so don't worry about it."

But after being beaten 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 in two hours 42 minutes the disappointment proved too much for Murray, and he was reduced to tears as he collected the runner-up's shield.

There were echoes of last year's final when it was Federer who broke down and wept after being beaten by Rafael Nadal. And the young Scot made reference to that as he told the crowd: "I can cry like Roger, it's just a shame I can't play like him."

The Briton had dropped only one set on his way to the final, but he lost two in quick succession as Federer put on a masterclass at the start of the match. And although Murray fought bravely in the third set it was too little too late as he succumbed in an epic tie-break, which the Swiss won 13-11 to claim his 16th Grand Slam.

Federer was on top from the outset, and the writing appeared to be on the wall when he broke Murray's first service game of the match. The Scot responded admirably by breaking back, but the Swiss struck again soon afterwards and went on to take the first set 6-3.

It was a similar story in the second set as the ruthlessly efficient Federer broke Murray early on and then cruised to victory. Murray rarely threatened the Federer serve, indeed he didn't manage to conjure up a single break point in the set, but had to battle hard just to hold on during his own service games as Federer produced some outstanding tennis.

In the third set Murray showed more fight as Federer showed he was human after all. The Scot managed to break the world number one's serve, but he could not hold on to see out the set and the Swiss broke back and the tie-break beckoned.

Both men squandered set points - in Federer's case Championship points - during the tie break, which produced some of the best points of the match. Murray showed plenty of fight but was guilty of throwing away the chances that came his way, as he had been earlier in the match, and in the end Federer won through.

Murray was clearly distraught afterwards and choked back tears during the presentation. "I'm sorry I couldn't do it for you tonight," he told the crowd. ·