Roger Federer beat Andy Murray to win the Australian Open title for the fourth time

Roger Federer scaled another peak in his legendary career, beating Britain’s Andy Murray to win his fourth Australian Open and 16th Grand Slam in total.

The Swiss world number one played incredibly consistent tennis, winning in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (13/11) in two hours 41 minutes. The Scottish fifth seed Andy Murray put up a good fight but Federer proved to be too good for him.

Federer sealed his victory in a fitting tie-breaker in the last game, 13 points to 11, while Murray squandered five set points , leaving Federer to wrap it up on his third match point.

This is Federer’s first Grand Slam victory after his daughters Charlene Riva and Myla Rose were born. "I'm over the moon winning this title again," he said. "I played some of the best tennis in my life again over the last two weeks. It's very special to win my first Grand Slam as a father."

He had words of praise for Murray: "Andy, you played an incredible tournament. You are too good a player not to win a Grand Slam, so don't worry about it."

Murray was graceful in defeat, joking "I can cry like Roger, it's just a shame that I can't play like him.”

It was the Scot's second Grand Slam loss to Federer following the 2008 US Open final. History was in Murray’s grasp, for an Australian Open win would have made him the first Brit to win a Grand Slam since Fred Perry’s U.S Open win, 74 years ago.

"He was a lot better than me tonight. But I've loved every minute of it and I hope to sometime come back and win” the 22-year-old Murray said.

Federer has now won a mind-boggling number of 16 Grand Slams in the span of 27 majors and has lost only six finals in that time. He became the fifth man in history to win four Australian Open titles with the last man to do so American Andre Agassi in 2003.

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