Andy Murray has been confirmed as the new world number 4 after the 21-year-old Scot reached his first Grand Slam final at the US Open, finishing runner-up to the now five-time champion Roger Federer.

See Andy Murray’s Ranking History

Murray has also secured his first trip to the prestigious Tennis Masters Cup at the end of year – he is up to no.4 in the race and cannot drop below number 8 before the end of season.

Andy Murray failed to produce his best tennis and fell at the last hurdle losing the US Open final to former world number 1 Roger Federer 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.

Federer has now won a record breaking 5 consecutive US Open titles adding to that his 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles making him the first player ever to win 5 consecutive grand slam titles at two grand slam events.

Although Federer played some of his best tennis, Murray never quite hit the form that seen him beat Rafael Nadal yesterday. The biggest weakness was on his serve, he failed to win any easy points with it and got into trouble far too often. His first serve % was low and it was back to that all too familiar weak second serve.

Despite this Murray has his chances and will have nightmares about not converting one of the three break points in the second set when he has 0-40 on the Federer’s serve.

If we have learned anything about Murray this year, it’s that the Scot learns his lessons and always comes back stronger, it won’t be long before we can say the Andy Murray, Grand Slam Champion. After the match Murray said,

I had a great tournament but I came up against, in my opinion, the best player ever to play game the today, I got the better of him the last two times and he definitely set the record straight today. I’ve learnt I’ve got a lot of improving to do if I want to win one of these things. I love playing in front of this crowd – it’s been the best time of my life.

The sun has set on Andy Murray’s US open and the young man from Dunblane can walk away with his head held high, he couldn’t quite deliver the UK’s first grand slam male singles title for 72 years, but it is surely just a matter of time before the 21 year secures that elusive title.

The match itself got of to a bad start for Murray, with the first set going all the way of the former world number 1. From the off Federer looked on omnious form, holding serve comfortably and making Murray work twice as hard for the Scot even to win a point his own serve. The Swiss ace managed his first chance of a break of serve in just Murray’s second service game, though like Murray had did yesterday against Nadal, a big first serve saved the Scotsman.

That was just delaying the inevatable though in Murray’s next service game a double fault gave Federer a 0-30 lead and soon Federer had his 2nd and 3rd break point, he only needed one, breaking the Scot to 15 for the first blood in the match. It soon got worse for grand slam final virgin, he was broken again in the 8th game and Federer claimed the set 6-2.

The situation did not get any better for Murray as he was broken yet again in his opening service game of the second set. Federer had now broken Murray more times than the Scot had actual games on the board.

Murray breaks back to love and all of a sudden Murray had found his feet in this final, he holds his serve comfortably in the next game and then take the great Roger Federer to 0-40 again on the Number 2′s serve. He is the great Roger Federer though and save them all he did. Though the rally in point at 15-40 looked like Federer hit two balls long, Murray reluctant to challenge as he was still in the point, with no hawk eye replay we’ll never know if they were out. This Murray’s big chance to take the lead in the set and would have completely changed the complex of the match. Murray still with some work to do mentally on handling those big points.

After losing vital break point chnaces against Nadal Murray was broken in his next service game, but champions learn from their mistakes and Murray held his service game to keep the set level at 3-3.

The next few games went with serve, though Murray did look the more likley to break, he didnt though and with score at 6-5, the Scot needed to hold serve to take the set into a tiebreaker. Murray folded and gave his serve up to love with Federer being ultra aggresive. Another shot form Federer looked out at 0-15 and again Murray failed to challange. The set was over and Murray now had a mountain to climb.

Climbing mountains is what Murray does best though, he is Scottish after all! He was’nt satisfied though to just climb Ben Nevis, he wanted to climb Mount Everest, the tallest mountain of all. And in tennis terms that would be not only beating Federer from 2 sets to nil down but also a break down in the third set. Thats what happened as in the second set the Scot dropped his serve on his opening service game of the third set and Federer had 3-0 lead.

I’m not quite sure what mountain would describe having to beat Roger Federer from two sets down and 5-0 down. I don’t think that even Sir Edmund Hillary could have climbed that mountain.

Murray was giving it a go though, he held his next service game, to get his name on the board and then did something he had only managed to do once in the match so far, he broke the Federer serve to pull the score back to 5-2, he then saved one match point before secumbing to the greatest player of the 21st centuary.

Andy Murray, the Scottish tennis sensation has just beaten the best player of 2008 and all that stands between him and his first ever grand slam title is the best player of the 21st century. Murray will take on Roger Federer this evening at 5pm (10pm UK time) on the 22,000 all seater Arthur Ashe Stadium Court.

The Swiss number 1 was world number 1 for more than 4 years, 237 consecutive weeks as the best player in the world – he has competed in every semi final of a major for the last 4 and half years and only failed to reach the final once in the last 14 grand slams and only lost a final to one man Rafael Nadal.

He is bidding to win an unbelievable 5th consecutive US open title and set new a record in the sport, an achievement that would go a long way to heal the wounds of a poor season by Roger Federer’s standards.

Murray will of course go into the match as underdog, but the Scot does hold a winning record against Federer, they have met three times and Murray has won their last two encounters.

Their first match was in the Bangkok final in 2005, when a teenage Andy Murray lost 6-3 7-5, they then met in Cincinnati in 2006, Murray this time beating the Swiss ace 7-5 6-4 – it was first real result that proved Murray could mix with best.

Most recently the duo met in Dubai earlier this year and Murray once again won 6-7(8-6) 6-3 6-4, it was after this match that Federer openly criticised Murray for being too negative, an unimpressed Federer said,

I don’t think that he’s changed his game a whole lot since I played him in the Bangkok final, ‘Not that I’m disappointed but I really would have thought he would have changed it in some ways. It sort of works for him but he’s going to have to grind very hard for the next few years if he keeps playing that way. He stands way far behind on the court and that means you’ve got to do a lot of running. He tends to wait a lot for an opponent’s mistake. I gave him the mistakes in the match, but over a 15-year career, you want to look to win a point more often than wait for the guy to miss. That’s what has served me well, but who knows, he may surprise us and do it for 20 years.

The odds of Murray win tonight is a testament to his recent form, any other first time grand slam finalists playing the great Roger Federer in the US Open would be very long. Murray is only a 7/4 outshot, with Federer 1/2 on to win. This is an event that Roger Federer has not lost a match at in the last 5 years.

Britain enjoys nothing more than hyping up anyone who shows any signs of sporting talent only to berate them when the much desired success is not achieved. Tim Henman knows all too well about this, more recently Lewis Hamilton suffered the backlash of the UK press for not winning the F1 championship last season. The England football team goes through the same torture every 2 years, with the press enjoying nothing more than getting all of England into a frenzy and convinced there is only one winner only to vilify the team and manager when they ultimately fail to achieve success.

Murray will not follow this pattern though after all he is not English – he is proudly Scottish!

Being Scottish has not stopped the British press hyping him up only to knock him down when success did not come immediately after breaking on to the tennis scene at Wimbledon 2005. At 21 he has not yet won a major and up until a week ago the majority of tennis press wrote of his chances of ever winning one.

Over the last three years Murray has very much still been growing and developing, he has steadily increased his year end ATP rankings and beat the top players on quite consistent basis. Though only thing that much of the Brittish press could write was Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have won majors at a younger age, so Murray is ruubish and will never win a major.

Tonight Andy Murray will win his first grand slam title, the huge amount of pressure placed on Murray to win will be huge and while pressure has made guys like Tim Henman crack under the enormous weight of expectation – Murray ignores most of the hype and almost thrives on the scale of the occasion.

I predicated an Andy Murray win against Rafael Nadal and I predict the first ever Scottish US Open Champion tonight. The long awaited British grand slam champion will arrive and he is 100 miles away from Tim Henman and what the world may have expected him to be.

Come on Murray!

Andy Murray, the young man from a wee town in Scotland claimed his placed in tennis history today, stunning the world number 1, Rafael Nadal in their US Open semi Final to reach his first grand slam final.

The match resumed after a rain delay yesterday with Murray 2 sets up, Nadal secured the third set before Murray fought back from a break of serve down in the fourth set to claim his famous victory 6-2 7-6(7-5) 4-6 6-4.

Andy Murray entered the match having lost every match he has ever played against Rafael Nadal; in their 5 previous encounters he had only won a set in their first encounter back at the Australian open in 2007. Only 2 months ago on the centre court of Wimbledon, Nadal had convincingly brushed aside Andy Murray in straight sets. Nadal went onto win Wimbledon and then claim Olympic Gold in Beijing, but none of that matter today – Murray was simply better than Nadal today and the Spaniard can have no excuses for his loss.

Andy Murray will now face Roger Federer in the final on Monday at 5pm (10pm UK time) for the chance to become US Open Champion and the first Britton to win a grand slam men’s title since Fred Perry 77 years ago.

After the most amazing performance yesterday from Andy Murray, some doubted that Murray could keep up the form and the rain delay would allow Nadal enough time to regroup and hit back at Murray. With Nadal up a break leading 3-2 in the third, the match began with the Spaniard serving. The opening games all went with serve, with Murray looking still as formidable on his own serve, though slightly less menacing on return as he did yesterday.

Murray raised his game with Nadal serving for the set at 5-4 and produced the first break point of the afternoon, Nadal though is number 1 in the world and fires down an ace to save the point and goes on to win the next two points and win the third set.

Nadal’s only break point and break of serve came in the opening game of the third set and when Murray went 0-30 down in the opening game of the fourth set the signs were looking ominous. Murray was able to rally himself though and levelled up at 30-30 before giving Nadal a huge chance with double fault. Just as Nadal had done in the previous game, Murray saves the break point with and ace and then served out the game for an important hold.

The next 10 minutes in the match produced some of the best tennis you will ever see, Murray raced into a 15-40 lead, but Nadal’s serve was firing and he saved first with a big serve and forehand combo and then the next with ace. Murray remained focused though and brings up another break point with an unstoppable backhand pass down the line, the break point come and goes though as Murray nets a regulation backhand and we are back to deuce.

A familiar pattern emerges with Murray playing blistering tennis on the deuce point to rack up more break points, before tensing up and making the error on the break point opportunity, another 3 break points come and go and this game look like it may determine the match. Murray gains yet another break point, number 7 in this game if you lost count and Nadal not for the first saves with an ace. Nadal would finally hold the game, which could have proved a brutal blow for Murray.

What usually happened in situations like this is the player who fails to convert numerous break chances is immediately broken themselves on their next service game. That’s what happened to Murray, with his composure seemingly gone, four unforced errors from Murray allows Nadal to break serve to love and this match was heading for 5 sets.

The set was threatening to run away from Murray, as Nadal consolidated the break by holding his serve and Murray 0-30 down on his next service game. On reflection of this match the next four points may indeed have been the point when Murray won this match, it would have been easy for Murray to give up on this set at this point, but he never. He served out the game winning the next 3 points to secure his service game.

Murray’s uncanny ability to make players play one more shot than they need to serves him well in the next game, with Nadal serving the score makes its way to deuce, with Nadal in control of rally he sends Murray one way and then fires ball cross court in opposite direction with a shot that no one could return, no one except Murray that is, he can’t get much on it, but it’s enough to make Nadal player another shot, which the Spaniard mishits into the net, bringing up Murray’s 18th break point – He’s failed to convert the last 15 thought – Lucky 16 for Andy Murray as Nadal goes long with a forehand and Murray breaks back.

So much of a tennis match is played in the minds of each player, from only dropping his serve to love a dew games before, Murray holds his next service game to love taking his first lead in the fourth set at 4-3 and the score moves onto 5-4, with Murray just one game away from winning.

After to quite fortunate net cords Murray finds himself 30-30 and only two points from victory, A big serve from Nadal another point for Murray after another long rally sees the score move onto deuce. After three and half hours of scintillating tennis Murray secures his first match point after one of the matches best rallies Murray finishing the point of by taking the initiative and moving into net and punching away a volley.

Nadal looked like a beaten man and on match point makes a crucial mistake and brings Murray into net with poor drop shot, the Scot chases it down and sends a backhand pass around the stranded world number one. Game Set and Match Andy Murray.

After the match Murray met American funnyman Will Ferrell who congradulated the Scot on his win and in a rare glimse of Murray letting loose he joked with Hollywood star and even tried to blag a free DVD. When he eventually got round to speaking to waiting reporters Murray said, 

It’s awesome to beat him, a great feeling, He’s beaten me five times in a row, so that was tough, and to do it in a semi meant it was really difficult. With the rain delay yesterday, and it was windy today, there were a lot of different things, but I’m happy I came through in the end. It was really tough to serve from the near end, it was very windy, so I knew I was going to have chances to break and I just had to hang in.

The BIG 3 has just become the BIG 4!

Andy Murray is just 1 set away from his first grand slam final and causing the biggest upset at this year’s event. He leads Rafael Nadal 6-2 7-6(7-5) 2-3 before the expected rain finally began to fell. The match will not resume tonight and it will be played on the Arthur Ashe Stadium at 4pm (9pm UK Time) on Sunday with the final then on Monday.

The Scot has so far produced some of his best ever tennis in the opening sets, though has giving the world number 1, Rafael Nadal a lifelong dropping his serve in the opening game of third set. So dominant has Murray been that the break Nadal secured was the Spaniards first break points of the entire match.

Nadal may hold a perfect record over Murray, but that 5 match winning streak is in serious doubt and Murray only needs one more set to beat Nadal for the first time.

Murray started the match with the clear intent on being positive from the outset; he looked far more aggressive than we usually see from him. On his own serve he was serve-volleying which sees him win his first service game comfortably.

Murray was dominating the opening games and he would ensure he would turn dominance into games, he secured his first break points in only Nadal’s second service and when Nadal sends a forehand long Murray secures the first break of serve.

Andy Murray’s first and second serve were working well and Nadal seemed unable to deal with Murray when he came into net of his 1st serve or the height that Murray was generating on his second serve. Murray capitalised on his lead and secured a second break with a great pass down the line after drawing Nadal into the net.

Murray served out the set with Nadal still unable to make any impression on his serve – 3 aces and only three dropped points on the Scot’s serve in all of the first set.

That first set of tennis from Murray was perhaps the finest played by British player in the last 20 years when you consider the occasion and the man he is playing.

Murray would not relent in the second and he continued to challenge Nadal on every one of the Spaniards service games. He forced his first break points in the third game after again holding his own serve easily. On this occasion Murray could not convert any of his 3 break point chances and Nadal managed to keep his serve.

Game 5 brings more 2 more break point chances for Murray, but again the Spaniard manages to wriggle out of the game with his serve intact. Both Players looked nervous during this game, perhaps realising the significance of what a break of serve would mean at that point.

Murray was not letting these missed opportunities get to him and he continued to give Nadal no insight on his serve holding to love or 15 in his first 5 service games of the second set.

With the score at 5-5 and a tie break looming, Murray for third game in this set forces more break points and once again Nadal proves why he is world number 1 saving them once again. With 7 break points squandered and barely given Nadal a sniff on Murray’s serve, it would be an injustice for the Scot to lose this set, but so often the best players are the ones who punish wasted opportunities. In his final service game Murray looked like he may just be about to punished, Nadal took a 15-30 lead with two bad unforced forehand errors. Murray though was not about to give this set up though and Murray serves down another ace followed by another serve and volley winner. A final service winner takes the set into a tie break.

As Murray showed against Del Potro, he knows how to win a tie break. Murray would take the first advantage winning the opening point on Nadal’s serve an exchange of mini breaks would see the Scot move 3-1 but is pegged back to 3-3 at the changeover. Three consecutive holds of serves sees Nadal go 5-4 up. Murray would need to hold his next two service point to remain in touch with Nadal. It was heart in mouth time as a service return from the Spaniard hits the top of the net cord and rolls along the top of the net before falling on Nadal’s side. Murray then finds a big serve to lead 6-5 and bring up the first set point of the match. Nadal goes wide with a backhand after a nervy rally and Murray goes two sets up.

The standard that Murray had shown in the first two sets could not last and one lapse in concentration from Murray sees him play his worse service game of the match and allows Nadal the chance to get back into the match. A forehand error from Murray sees Nadal secure the break.

4 more games would be played with no more breaks before the rain stopped played. Exactly who this rain break benefits more is not that obvious, Murray was playing the tennis of his life and stopping now may give Nadal the time gather himself, though dropping serve at the start of the third set did give Nadal some momentum and a rain delay could give Murray the chance to refocus.

Whatever happens in this match Murray holds the upper hand and the bookmakers agree. Before the match began Nadal was odds on favourite to win the match and title – Now Murray is odds on favourite to win this match and Roger Federer odds on favourite to win the US Open Title.

US Open Winner Odds

Andy Murray will once again step onto the Arthur Ashe court in this year’s US Open in the most important match of his short career to date. All that has gone before in Andy Murray’s career will become that less significant if he can win this match and book his place in the US Open final.

The match is scheduled for an 11am start (4pm UK time) on Saturday due to the expected inclement weather warning with the remnants of tropical storm Hanna forecasted to hit the New York area. The whole of “super Saturday” may be completely washed out, which would mean play would be required on Monday.

In order for Murray to win tomorrow, the young scot will need to beat the incredible world number 1 Rafael Nadal, a feat that man from Dunblane has not managed to do in 5 attempts. Yet this will not matter when Murray steps on to one of the biggest courts in the world on Saturday, the Murray that will walk out on court is not the Murray that lost those 5 matches, he is not the Andy Murray that could not last the pace in Melbourne 2 years ago, nor will he be the player thoroughly out classed by Nadal on the Spanish hard courts earlier this year, he won’t even be the Murray that couldn’t rise to the occasion in that Wimbledon Quarter final. The Andy Murray that will step out on court will be a man that knows he can beat the best the world, who knows he is fitter than anyone on the ATP tour, including Rafael Nadal and most importantly a man that will refuse to lose until the last ball is hit in anger.

He may have been beat 5 times by Rafael Nadal, but the Scot will win tomorrow in my opinion, He’ll win because he now believes he can win – He’ll win because he is now fitter than Nadal – He’ll win because he can play smarter than Nadal. Most importantly he’ll win because he needs to win, Murray is now at the peak of his form and playing on his best surface and although Nadal is hugely improved on hard courts, it remains the Spaniards least favourite surface and whilst Nadal has seemed unbeatable all year, the Spaniard has looked very beatable at this year’s US Open and has yet to play anyone of top 10 pedigree.

If Murray doesn’t win on Saturday then the title may well be on the way to the Spaniard, neither of the two players in the other semi final, Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic have yet to show their best form and the Spaniard would surely be favourite to cap of an amazing season. Of the 4 men left in the event, it is Murray who has shown the best form, his demolition of the world number 10 Stanislas Wawrinka is easily the best tennis performance of the 2008 US Open. His fight back and guts shown against Meltzer is the best fighting performance and his win over Del Potro was the mental performance of this year’s event.

Of course Rafael Nadal is the overwhelming odds on favourite to win with the bookmakers and based on their head to head record, Nadal’s Grand Slam pedigree and the Spaniard’s amazing form over the last 6 months it’s hard to argue with that – they do agree that tomorrow will be Murray’s best chance to date, his odds for their Wimbledon quarter final was 5/1 with some bookmakers and for tomorrows match most are offering 3/1. It’s definitely a bet that I will be taking, I say it again I think Murray will win. The best odds as usual can be found at Betfair, and if you were thinking of betting for the first time, they are offering a free £10 bet when you sign up and bet £10.

Andy Murray flirted with disaster as he reached his first grand slam semi final after letting what seemed an unbeatable position slip from his grasp. Murray eventually winning 7-6(7-2) 7-6(7-1) 4-6 6-4 against Juan Martin Del Potro and ending the young man from Argentina’s impressive 23 match winning streak.

With Murray up two sets to love and a break to the good in the third set he looked certain to win comfortably in straight sets, but woeful serving and missed opportunities allowed Del Potro to win the third set and even at led twice by a break of serve in the fourth set – the alarm bells sounded for Murray at that point and he was able to raise his game to finally put Del Potro away.

With the history and words shared between these two we expected a fiery contest, on this occasion the two let their tennis do the talking and showed the US public some battling tennis. At the end of the match the pair seemed to have put their past behind them as the shook hands in longer than usual embrace.

The match as a whole followed this pattern of Murray taking advantage only to lose it back to Del Potro, it all started well for Murray, holding serve and breaking Del Potro in the Argentines first service game to lead 4-1 in the first set. Murray had done very little to win his advantage, a mix of decent drop shots and unforced errors had got him his lead and at this point and it only took Del Potro to raise his game by cutting down some of the errors to break back and then go on to secure another break to lead 5-4 with Del Potro serving for the first set.

It was now Murray’s turn to raise his game and break back, though he did get some help with two unforced errors from an obvious tight Del Potro. The set would be decided by a tie break and in recent months Murray has played some great tie breaks, this one would be no different, at 3-2 on serve with Del Potro serve, Murray produced the most sublime forehand drop shot that Del Potro could only watch and hope would fall short, it didn’t and Murray had the mini break. He consolidated that mini break with another and served out the tie break in fine style 7-2.

Murray did not drive home his advantage in the second and it looked like Del Potro would be first break, the man from Argentina had his chances producing break points in games 4, 6 and 8, though Murray came up with big ace or winner when required. The score moved onto 5-5 and Murray secured the first break of second set when Del Potro puts a backhand into the net. The advantage was short lived as Murray plays three of the worst points of his life which included a unusually woeful drop-shot an then blazes a forehand long to be broken to love and this set would be decided by another tie-break.

I did say Murray had been playing great tie breaks recently and what a start he made in this one, he raced into a 5-0 with three mini breaks which included two huge forehand winners. It didn’t take him long to finish this tie break off, going one better to win 7-1 this time.

Del Potro had received some treatment for his knee during the second set and was looked to be out of steam and as Murray ran him round the court another break of serve looked likely and Murray achieved this in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead, Del Potro throwing his racquet in rage after sending another forehand long.

With Del Potro moving slower than a heavyweight boxer it looked like it was game over, but like a heavyweight boxers Del Potro packs a mighty punch and he would not give up easily. In fact Del Potro would hit back immediately breaking back immediately with Murray again failing to build on his advantage. More chances would follow for Murray, but again Murray could not take them and then unthinkable happened, the big man from Argentina broke Murray again to lead 5-4 with a chance to serve out the match, which he did without too much fight from Murray.

In a lesson of firing home your advantage Del Potro broke the Scot in the opening game of the fourth, Murray looked completely out of sorts but gathers some composure to hold his own serve after Del Potro held his own comfortably. I don’t think any of the harshest of Murray’s critics would ever question is fighting qualities and whenever Murray is a break down, you know that he is always just a game away getting himself back into the set. A double fault from Del Potro, showing the Argentine teenager still has some nerves and a brilliant backhand from Murray gives the Scot the upper hand in Del Potro’s next service game and when Del Potro send yet another forehand long Murray secured the break back.

Murray’s serve was letting him down, the service winners had gone and he had to work harder and harder to win games on his serve, game 5 seen him save 3 break points to survive that game, but he would go down 0-40 in game 7 and Del Potro converted his second break to take another break lead in the fourth set.

Del Potro has never came back from two sets down and was looking like he may just break that record, but did I mention Murray was a fighter? And fight he did, never write Murray off, never ever. An awesome backhand volley and a forehand winner after a long rally that Murray looked to be on the back foot for most of allowed him to bring up more break back points at 15-40 on the Del Potro serve. He only needed one of them as Del Potro puts a backhand into the net.

With the William sisters waiting to get on court at this point Andy Murray would be well advised to finish this match off before he has to answer to the American sisters and their American fans waiting outside for the evening session to start.

Murray found his serve and held the next game comfortably, with Del Potro following suit to level at 5-5. Murray again produced an off service game and Del Potro sense’s a chance to break, he leads 15-30 before Murray steps up with 3 winners, a big first serve for a winner, a superb volley and a very welcome ace to take a 6-5 lead.

The moment of truth came for Del Potro, he needed to win this game to keep his unbeaten record going. The pressure was beginning to show as Murray went into 0-30 lead after two wayward shots by Del Potro, two shared points see Murray bring up his first match points at 15-40. Del Potro could only save one before Murray reaches his first grand slam semi final.

Andy will now face either Rafael Nadal or Marty Fish who will play later tonight in the evening session.