Knew he was still capable of winning Grand Slam titles.

Knew he was still Roger Federer.

Back at his best, back at the top of tennis, Federer easily beat Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 on Monday to win his fifth consecutive U.S. Open championship and 13th major title overall.

''I felt like I was invincible for a while again,'' Federer said.

Federer is the first man since Bill Tilden in the 1920s to win this tournament that many times in a row. He also moved within one major championship of tying Pete Sampras' career record of 14.

''One thing's for sure,'' said Federer, the only man in tennis history to win five consecutive titles at two of the Grand Slam tournaments. ''I'm not going to stop at 13. That would be terrible.''

Federer struggled at times during a lackluster-only-for-him season. He lost in the semifinals at the Australian Open, and to nemesis Rafael Nadal in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon, meaning Federer was on the verge of his first year since 2002 without a major title. Plus, his record 4 1/2 -year reign at No. 1 ended when Nadal surpassed him last month.

''I had a couple of tough Grand Slams this year . . . so to take this one home is incredible,'' Federer said after stretching his U.S. Open winning streak to 34 matches. ''It means the world to me.''

But the sixth-seeded Murray upset Nadal in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows to reach his first Grand Slam final, and Federer had no trouble this time - even though he had lost two of his previous three matches against the Scotsman.

''I came up against, in my opinion, the best player ever to play the game,'' said Murray, who tried to give Britain its first men's major champion in 72 years. ''He definitely set the record straight today.''

He accumulated a 36-16 advantage in winners and won the point on 31 of 44 trips to the net. His volleying might have been helped by his work winning a gold medal in doubles at the Beijing Olympics, a result he credited with boosting his confidence.

''Seeing him play like that made me very, very happy for him,'' said Federer's part-time coach, Jose Higueras, ''because he's a great champion and he's gone through some rough times.''

At only one juncture did Murray throw a scare into Federer, taking 11 of 12 points to go from 2-0 down in the second set to 2-all and love-40 on Federer's serve.

Federer saved the first break point, and on the second, a 14-stroke rally ended with Murray missing a backhand.

When the men met at the net, Murray felt compelled to share a thought with Federer.

''I told him that he had, you know, a phenomenal year,'' Murray said, ''regardless of what anyone said.''