Past Victories Over Federer Mean Nothing, Says Murray

Andy Murray has said that his past two victories over Roger Federer will count for nothing when the pair go head-to-head in the final of the US Open this evening.

Pointing to his Swiss rival's "ridiculous run" of grand slam success, Murray said he must play a great game if he wants to beat the reigning champion. "Yeah, I've played well against him in the past," said Murray. "I think a slam final is different to the match that I played against him before. He's obviously won over 30 matches in a row here so he's going to be feeling confident going in. He's got loads of experience in these situations and it's something new for me. I know I'm going to have to play great to have a chance of winning."

Should Murray triumph he will become Britain's first male singles grand slam champion in 72 years and although the Scot knows that he faces a difficult challenge, he believes his semi-final victory over Rafael Nadal shows he does have the ability to win. "I don't understand why everyone thinks he [Federer] is not playing well," he said. "He's played unbelievable in the best tournaments and he's in the final for the fifth straight year here. It's a ridiculous run.

"I played well enough to beat the No1 player in the world over two days and I've beaten Roger in the past. I think I have the tennis to compete with those guys. I just have to make sure I do it for three out of five sets rather than for a set and a half, two sets."

Federer knows he is favorite to win the clash, but the four-time defending champion said he must play carefully against Murray, who he describes as "an incredible talent". "I remember I came in as being the favorite, actually, for my first final," said Federer, "so that's obviously a big difference to how he [Murray] would go in, even though he beat me last time.

"It will be interesting to see how he handles it but I have a feeling he's a guy who plays well on the big occasions. That's why I need to be very, very careful how I play [against] Andy."