Murray thrashes Federer to win Olympic gold

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Andy Murray completed an astonishing recovery from last month’s Wimbledon heartache to thrash Switzerland’s Roger Federer and claim Olympic gold on Centre Court on Sunday.

Exactly four weeks after Federer had beaten him to claim a 17th grand slam title on the same court, reducing Murray to tears in the process, the Scot returned with an army of flag-waving fans to demolish the world number one 6-2 6-1 6-4.

Defeat virtually ended Federer’s chances of completing the “golden career slam” of all four grand slam titles and the Olympic singles crown as he will be 34 when the Games moves on to Rio de Janeiro in four years.

From the moment that Murray moved 4-2 ahead in the first set he barely gave Federer a look-in, rattling off nine games in a row to seize complete control of the final.



Murray went for the jugular in the third set, breaking for a 3-2 lead with a searing backhand and marched on to victory with chants of “Andy, Andy” ringing around the court.