Roger Federer beats Andy Murray to win Wimbledon title

Roger Federer has beaten Andy Murray 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to take the men's singles title at The Championships, Wimbledon 2012.

Andy Murray’s bid to win his first Wimbledon trophy was denied after Roger Federer claimed his 17th Grand Slam title.

Murray was aiming to become the first British man since 1936 to lift a major singles trophy, but 30 year-old Roger Federer produced a four set win on Centre Court in the final of Wimbledon 2012 to reclaim his No.1 world ranking and meet Pete Sampras’ winning record at SW19.

Speaking after the match, a tearful Murray thanked the crowd for their support: “and last of all to you guys” Murray said whilst signalling to the crowd, “the support has been incredible so thank you.”

He also added: "The atmosphere was unbelievable, one of the best I've played in. Yeah, that's really all I can say on that. The atmosphere was great. The support was great. You know, I hope it was a good match, even though obviously I lost.  I hope everyone enjoyed it."

The 25 year-old British No.1 also gave credit to his Swiss opponent: “Firstly I would like to congratulate Roger. He’s not bad for a 30 year-old. Congratulations you deserved it.”

Murray who has never won a set in a Grand Slam final before, stormed ahead by breaking Federer early on in the opener. Federer looked uneasy as he trailed behind the Briton.

The second set was a closer affair and Federer held for 6-5 before putting the pressure on Murray and came from 40-15 down to level the match one set all with a backhand drop volley.

In game three of the third set, heavy rain started to fall and players left court for over half an hour as the roof closed.

When play resumed just before 17.00 BST, the momentum was with Federer who broke Murray for a 4-2 lead. At 5-4 the newly crowned world No.1 served out for the championship trophy and took the win after Murray hit the ball wide into the tramlines.

Elsewhere, Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley have finished as runners-up in the Wheelchair Ladies Doubles event.

Shuker and Whiley, ranked No. 8 and 10 in the world for doubles respectively, faced last year's runners-up Jiske Griffioen and Aniek van Koot in the final on Court Three.

But the Dutch pair, who are both in the world's top five for doubles, were too strong and won 6-1, 6-2 to claim their first Wimbledon title after finishing runners-up last year.

The British duo had upset the odds in their semi-final on Friday defeating the second seeds Sharon Walraven and Annick Sevenans 7-6(5), 6-3 to become the first all-British wheelchair tennis team to reach a final at Wimbledon.

Shuker and Whiley finish runners-up at Wimbledon