The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, New York

Back at his best, back at the top of tennis, Federer easily beat Britain's Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 Monday to win his fifth consecutive U.S. Open championship and 13th major title overall.

"I felt like I was invincible for a while again," Federer said. Federer is the first man since Bill Tilden in the 1920s to win this tournament five consecutive times. He also moved within one major championship of tying Pete Sampras' record 14 majors.

"One thing's for sure," said Federer, the only man in tennis history to win five consecutive titles at two of the Grand Slam tournaments, "I'm not going to stop at 13. That would be terrible."

Federer struggled living up to his unbeatable form this season. He lost in the semifinals at the Australian Open, and to nemesis Rafael Nadal of Spain in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon, putting on the verge of his first year since 2002 without a major title. Plus, his record 4 1/2-year reign at No. 1 ended when

Nadal surpassed him last month.

"I had a couple of tough Grand Slams this year t so to take this one home is incredible," Federer said after stretching his U.S. Open winning streak to 34 matches. "It means the world to me."

The sixth-seeded Murray upset Nadal in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows to reach his first Grand Slam final, and Federer had no trouble this time - even though he had lost two of his previous three matches against the Scottish player.

"I came up against, in my opinion, the best player ever to play the game," said Murray, who was trying to give Britain its first men's major champion in 72 years. "He definitely set the record straight today."

Murray, 21, won the U.S. Open junior trophy in 2004, when Federer claimed his first U.S. Open title. "I'm not as nervous any more, like in my first final," Federer said during a prematch TV interview.

Perhaps he was trying to plant doubt in Murray's head. The youngster was standing around the corner, waiting to walk out onto the court.

Federer was Murray's age when he played in his first Grand Slam final, back in 2003 at Wimbledon. Except Federer won that match against Mark Philippoussis, and has kept winning major championship matches against everyone except Nadal. Federer is 2-4 against the Spaniard in major finals, 11-0 against anyone else.

Federer accumulated a 36-16 advantage in winners and won the point on 31 of 44 trips to the net. His volleying might have been helped by his work winning a gold medal in doubles at the Beijing Olympics, a result he credited with boosting his confidence.

"Seeing him play like that made me very, very happy for him," said Federer's part-time coach, Jose Higueras, "because he's a great champion and he's gone through some rough times."

Murray - whose ATP ranking rises to No. 4 - stood about 10 feet (3 meters) behind the baseline to return serves, exactly the way he did against Nadal in their two-day, rain-interrupted semifinal. And Murray displayed flashes of the defense he used against Nadal, including one pretty flick of a lob by Federer with his back to the net.

But Federer, who might have benefited from an extra day to rest because his semifinal wasn't affected by Tropical Storm Hanna, was simply too much for Murray.