Andy Murray captured his first ever Grand Slam on Monday night, defeating Novak Djokovic, 7-6, 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2, to win the 2012 U.S. Open. Murray came so close at Wimbledon, falling to Roger Federer in the finals, but he responded this week in New York to become the first British male to win a major since Fred Perry 76 years ago.
The first set went back and forth throughout until the two players tied at 6-6. The tiebreaker was essentially equal, going all the way to 10-10 at one point. Murray then rallied to win the next point, sealing the 7-6 win.
The second set went in Murray's favor, 7-5. Murray held an early lead, but Djokovic battled back to tie it at 5-5. Murray then won the next two games and put himself in a great position to win the championship.
The third set was completely dominated by Djokovic. He broke Murray twice on his way to a 6-2 win, and started showing signs of life. The defending champ then evened things up by getting another break on Murray and taking the fourth set, 6-3. He ripped three aces and hit 13 winners to force the decisive fifth set.
With all the momentum seemingly on Djokovic's side, Murray would immediately get a break to start the fifth set, going up 2-0. The crowd seemed to swing back in favor of the Scot, who looked to be on the verge of his first major two hours prior. He would get a second break on Djokovic's next serve to go up 3-0, as the defending champ seemed to be running out of gas and becoming increasingly frustrated.
But, like he always seems to, Djokovic was unrelenting and battled back to take the next two games. He started to experience a leg issue, however, and Murray broke him for a third time to go ahead 5-2. Murray would clean it up with two successful challenges in the final game to clinch the win in a match that was just shy of five hours.
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