The Rod Laver Arena was erupting and the stage was set for the Australian Open final to begin. Britain’s 22-year-old sensation, Andy Murray, who was carrying the burden of a nation waiting to see a Grand Slam winner after 74 long years was up against ‘the King’ himself - Roger Federer.

With 15 Grand Slam titles to his name already, Federer was aiming to win his first one as a father. Murray on the other hand entered the final on the back of a 6-4 head to head record against the Swiss maestro. It was Murray’s 17th Grand Slam in his 22nd year, the same number of Slams and years it took Federer to win his first title. And tennis analysts across the world were expecting him to give Federer a tough time; some even thought he would eventually emerge as the messiah of British Tennis by overcoming the best in the business. But, King Federer had other plans...

There’s a very strong reason why Federer’s fans call him peRFect, and that he showed right from the word go. Giving Murray little ground to stand on, Federer showed his class by winning the first set 6-3. Murray was looking lazy he just could not handle the class of the number one tennis player in the world.

Much to the disappointment of Murray’s fans, Federer’s planning in the second set proved far more meticulous than the first and his execution exquisite. He just kept on bombarding Murray with one winner after the other, and it seemed like it would be a walk in the park for the number one seed. He took the second set 6-4.

Federer looked relaxed throughout the tournament - he showed no signs of urgency and timed his strategies to perfection. While Murray, who usually exhausts his opponents down with his angled ground strokes and exceptional stamina, was finding it difficult to deploy the same strategy here. In the third set, however, Murray showed some maturity and raced to a 5-2 lead; he even got the crowd involved with his stroke play only for Federer to unleash an array of winners down the line, to put the brakes on again.

It was enthralling tennis, Andy Murray who will definitely be holding the winner’s trophy one day, as suggested by his nemesis later in the evening, just couldn’t find a way past the smiling assassin, who at that moment was the quietest man in the arena.

Federer was able to bring the set back on level terms at 5-5. Murray won the next game to make it 6-5, but, Federer responded with a brilliant service game to force a tie-break.

The tie-break proved to be a pendulum ride with Murray gaining the initial advantage to earn a set point at 6-4; but, he was still unable to disturb Federer’s focus and eventually lost the tie-break at 13-11, to hand Federer a straight set victory in the final, his fourth Australian Open title and his 16th Grand Slam.

Last year when Federer lost in the final against Rafael Nadal in an epic five setter, many had predicted his downfall, but he proved every single one of them wrong by launching a tremendous comeback to show the world that he is still the man to beat.

At 28, he is already one of the greatest tennis players in history if not the greatest. He is showing no signs of ageing and his backhand is still as venomous as a pit viper. Murray and Britain will have to wait another day, which is probably not too far away. But, the last evening of January belonged to Roger Federer who will fly home $1.86 million richer.