Who would argue that Arthur Ashe Stadium does not belong to Federer in the aftermath of his fifth consecutive US Open championship?

In a men's final that made up in historical appeal what it lacked in drama, Federer disposed of Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 on Monday to become the first player to win five titles in a row at the Open and Wimbledon.

He is the first man in the open era to win the US Open five consecutive years; Bill Tilden won the US championships six straight times in the 1920s.

It was Federer's 13th major championship, bringing him to within one win of another immortal, Pete Sampras.

'One thing's for sure,' he said in an on-court interview. 'I'm not going to stop at 13. That would be terrible.'

Terribly unlucky that is, which sums up the first eight months of Federer's 2008 season.

At the Australian Open, he lost in the semi-finals while battling illness. He lost in the final of the French Open and Wimbledon to a surging Rafael Nadal, who ended the 27-year-old's record four-and-a-half-year stay at No 1 last month.

Then he was ousted of the Olympic singles event by James Blake - whom he had never lost to before.

For any other player, Federer's run in the Grand Slams would be called resplendent. But, because he had held the tennis world up like a 21st-century Atlas, people openly wondered what was wrong with him. On Monday came his answer: Absolutely nothing.

Murray, a 21-year-old Briton, came into the match ranked No 4 in the world. But he was no match for Federer, who produced 36 winners to Murray's 16.

'I felt great,' Federer said. 'I felt like I was invincible for a while again.'

Said Murray, a Scot who is the same age Federer was when he won his first major, at Wimbledon in 2003: 'Came up against, in my opinion, the best player ever to play. He definitely set the record straight today.'

While Nadal emerged this year as Federer's toughest opponent on any surface, mononucleosis, an acute disease whose symptoms include fever and general exhaustion, provided his stiffest challenge. The virus can tear through the body like a storm, and affect it for months.

In 2007, Mario Ancic, a Croat who had cracked the top 10 at the end of 2006, contracted the illness. He was out for six months and saw his world ranking plummet to No 85.

Federer dropped only one spot, from No 1 to No 2, but his fall set off seismic shock waves in tennis because of his seeming invincibility the previous four years.

Travelling 12 time zones to New York after winning the Olympic doubles event in Beijing, he experienced the Olympic hangover that dominated the conversation during the first week of the Open.

But there was no rest for the weary. His draw provided inviting targets for him to shoot for and ammunition in the form of revenge.

One by one, he picked off players who had beaten him earlier in the year.

There were Radek Stepanek, who had upset him in Rome; in the semi-finals, he knocked off Novak Djokovic in four sets. And then Murray, who stood no chance.

In the first set, Federer got 76 per cent of his first serves in and closed out the set in 27 minutes.

After Murray dumped a forehand into the net on the second championship point in the third set, Federer rolled around on the court like a pill bug. When he met Murray at the net, he congratulated him on a great tournament.

'And I said that, you know, I agreed with everyone that he's had a terrible year,' Murray said.

He laughed. The joke was on everybody who had written Federer off.

NEW YORK TIMES