With the sun setting on Flushing Meadows Andy Roddick battered Juan Carlos Ferrero into submission on Sunday to win his first grand slam crown at the US Open.
His 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 victory was a triumph of bone-rattling power, which shattered the metronomic consistency of the new world number one.
Henin-Hardenne lifts US Open title
After pounding down a 23rd ace on his first match point, the 21-year-old held his head in his hands and simply sobbed.
With tears rolling down his cheeks he gazed, glassy-eyed, around the howling New York crowd, screaming for their new champion.
He fell, crying, into the arms of his coach Brad Gilbert before heading off to kiss actress girlfriend Mandy Moore and his mother Blanche.
"It hasn't sunk in yet... I don't think you could have written the script any better, starting with Pete's retirement," said Roddick, who takes the title left vacant by Sampras when he confirmed his retirement on the opening evening of the season's final grand slam.
"With the crowd here... I'm playing for everybody. They're living and dying each point with me. It's just... it's too good.
"You know, I can't imagine my name and US Open champion together. It's more than I could ever dream of. For years I came to this tournament and just watched from way up there.
"I'm in absolute disbelief right now. I have my friends and my family here. I couldn't have a better day."
Gritty Venue
There could hardly have been a better way to celebrate the US Open's 25th anniversary of its move to Flushing Meadows, the loudest, most gritty venue of the four grand slams.
Yet he had so nearly missed the party. In Saturday's semi-final he had been two sets and match point down against Argentine David Nalbandian before mounting a fairytale comeback.
Roddick plays tennis the way New Yorkers like it. He's loud, he's cocky and he hits a mean ball.
The sonic boom on his serve drowns out the planes flying overhead into nearby La Guardia airport.
Nobody in the world has hit a serve faster than the American and on Sunday it was too hot for Ferrero to handle.
"I didn't do my tennis," Ferrero said. "Maybe because he served so hard all the time, I couldn't feel a rhythm on court. It's a very big serve, you know?
"Today was not my day."
The Spaniard was playing with an "experimental racket" according to its manufacturers but the racket has not been made that can tame the Roddick serve and time and again the 140 miles per hour-plus rockets ricocheted off Ferrero's frame.
There was little respite for the Spaniard when it was his turn to serve. Roddick's forehand should come with a health warning too.
He whips the ball with ferocious power and swings his backhand like a New York Yankee.
Never mind that the rankings will show Ferrero as the world number one on Monday. On centre court he stood no chance.
In front of an excitable Flushing Meadows crowd Roddick burst from the blocks opening the first game with a 116 mph ace and ending it with one timed at 108 mph.
In game four he broke Ferrero for the first time, slamming a forehand winner with murderous intent and after 28 minutes had one finger on his first grand slam crown.
In the second set he didn't lose a point on his serve until the eighth game but Ferrero was hanging in and the set inched into a tiebreak.
Roddick tore through it 7-2.
Serving first in the third set, Roddick charged for the finish line. After 22 consecutive games without a break opportunity he finally got his chance at 3-2. But Ferrero refused to fold, denying Roddick on three break chances to keep the set on serve.
In the next game Ferrero put Roddick under pressure with a pair of break points, but he dug himself out of trouble with two unreturnable serves.
Ferrero finally succumbed to Roddick's pressure when he double-faulted serving at 4-3 to give the American the decisive break.
Roddick then easily held serve, slamming three consecutive aces for his first slam.
The US crown was his sixth title of the year, more than any other player.
