体坛英语新闻：Murray breaks through to first career major trophy

FLUSHING MEADOWS, New York, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Andy Murray enjoyed a breakthrough of both personal career and British tennis on Monday after he beat defending champion Novak Djokovic in a five-set epic match lasting nearly five hours.

The third seeded Scot won not only his first career major title, but also Britain's first in 76 years after he outlasted No. 2 seed Djokovic by 7-6 (10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2.

Fred Perry won Britain's last Grand Slam men's title 76 years ago at the U.S. Championships, the Open's predecessor.

It's the fifth time for Murray to reach the Grand Slam final and finally made the breakthrough afterhe has long been on the verge of a major victory. He defeated Roger Federer to win the gold medal in singles at this summer's London Olympics.

Djokovic failed to become the first to defend champion at US Open since the five straight wins for Federer during 2004-2008.

Murray, 25, had favorably one more day rest than his opponent as Djokovic's semifinal against David Ferrer was postpone to Sunday. The Serb had to take on two matches in two days, which gave Murray a lot of edge over the defending champion especially in the fifth set.

The defeat to Djokovic cost him heavy in which otherwise he can collect 2.9 million dollar payout instead of the 1.45 million for a runner-up as Djokovic is leading the US Open series entilted to 1 million dollar bonus if he can win.

Murray earned 1.9 million dollars for the win, bringing his career prize money to more than 23 million dollars.

Djokovic, 25, was the 2-5 favorite at the Las Vegas Hotel's Super Book, translating to a 71 percent probability of a sixth major title for the Serbian. A successful 100 dollars bet on underdog Murray yielded a 210-dollar profit.

The win also broke a stranglehold on major titles by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic, who combined to win 29 of the previous 30. Juan Martin Del Potro's 2009 U.S. Open victory was the lone exception.

Murray's breakthrough in his 28th Grand Slam event came after four runner-up finishes. He lost the final of the 2011 Australian Open to Djokovic and was beaten by Federer in three others -- at the 2008 U.S. Open, in Australia in 2010 and this year at Wimbledon.

There were four service breaks in the first eight games of the opening set as the players tried to adjust to the swirling 26 kph wind. Playing tentatively instead of going for winners, the two men exchanged 54 strokes on one point in the sixth game of the 87-minute set. The tiebreaker lasted 24 minutes.

After Murray won the first-set tiebreaker on his sixth set point, he took a 4-0 lead in the second set by breaking Djokovic's serve twice.

Djokovic stormed back to win five of the next six games, only to have Murray break his serve again in the 12th game to win the set.

Djokovic rallied to clinched the next two sets, surviving his hope of overturning. Murray repeated what he did in the second set by breaking the Serb's first two serves, establishing a 3-0 lead. Though Djokovic broke one back in the fourth game, but could not hold off the sliding and was broken for the ninth time in the seventh game to lose.

With the win, Murray, who took the gold medal at the London Games in July, also became the first man to win both a gold medal and the U.S. Open title since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988.

Murray called the three-set Olympic gold medal-winning victory against Federer "the biggest win of my life."

Now Murray has a Grand Slam as well, moving past Nadal to become the ATP World Tour's third-ranked player, and cementing himself among the elite in men's tennis.