Tennis has a new champion. Juan Martín del Potro won his first grand-slam title at the US Open last night when he dethroned Roger Federer 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 in one of the biggest upsets in grand-slam final history.

Federer, chasing his sixth straight title at Flushing Meadows and his sixteenth grand-slam title in all, led by two sets to one but was overpowered and eventually outplayed by a performance from Del Potro that suggests there will be more to come.

As Federer floated a backhand over the baseline on his third match point, Del Potro sank to his knees in joy as he became the first Argentinean to win the title since Guillermo Vilas in 1977.
It was a surprise success but a victory hugely deserved for the 20-year-old, who is only the third man in the past five years other than Federer and Rafael Nadal to win a grand-slam title.

Del Potro had hammered Nadal in the semi-finals but looked out of his depth in the early stages as Federer served for a two-sets-to-love lead. But as Federer’s serve fell apart, with 11 double faults in all, the Argentinian shook off the nerves and thundered back into the match.
Federer still led 2-1 in sets and had two chances to break for a 6-5 lead in the fourth but Del Potro was as resilient as he was brave and, after snatching another tie-break 7-4, he broke in the second game of the decider and broke again in the eighth to secure victory.

For Federer, it was a remarkable end to an incredible year that began with him unable to stem the tears at the Australian Open when he lost an epic five-set battle to Nadal. His first French Open triumph changed everything and, when he won Wimbledon, he broke the record of wins in grand-slam tournaments set by Pete Sampras. Win No 16 was agonizingly close but Del Potro snatched it away from him with a brilliant performance.

So rattled was the Swiss that at one stage he launched an angry tirade in the direction of Jake Garner, the umpire, after he allowed Del Potro to challenge a call late in the third set despite taking a lot longer than is normally allowed. “No, it’s too late,” an angry Federer said. “I wasn’t even able to challenge after two seconds and he takes ten seconds every time. Do you have any rules in there?”

Garner then gesticulated with his hand, to which Federer said: “Don’t do that with your hand. Don’t tell me to be quiet.” Responding to Garner’s comment that Del Potro was talking to him throughout the period before eventually challenging, Federer said: “I don’t give a s*** what he said. Don’t f***ing tell me the rules.”

He still looked the likelier winner when he took the third set but Del Potro began to go for broke on his groundstrokes and once he had broken in the second game of the fifth set, there only ever looked one winner. (sourced via timesonline.co.uk)