Marin Cilic clinched his first Grand Slam title, shattering Kei Nishikori's bid to become the first Asian man to win a major with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory in the US Open final.
Cilic, the 14th-seeded 25-year-old, yesterday became the first Croatian man to win a major since Goran Ivanisevic, now his coach, at Wimbledon in 2001.
It also comes 12 months after he was forced to skip the tournament to serve out a controversial doping ban.
Cilic, playing in his 28th Grand Slam event, is the lowest-ranked champion since Pete Sampras, then 17th in the world, claimed the 2002 title in New York.
But victory was well-deserved with Cilic saving eight of nine break points, firing 17 aces and 38 winners past a weary-looking Nishikori who had defeated three top five players to make his maiden major final -- Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka and world number one Novak Djokovic.
Monday's final was the first at a major not to feature either Djokovic, Federer or Rafael Nadal since the 2005 Australian Open -- so long ago that it was pre-Twitter.
It was also a battle of contrasting styles between the 5ft 10in (1.78m), 150lbs (68kg) Nishikori and the bigger, heavier 6ft 6in (1.98m), 180lbs (82kg) Cilic who had knocked out five-time champion Roger Federer in the semi-finals.
Under overcast skies and on the coolest day of a two-week tournament marked by punishing heat and high humidity, the championship match began inside a half-full Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Once he had saved a break point in the first game, Cilic was comfortably the dominant player breaking for 4-2 and claiming the opening set in 33 low-key minutes when Nishikori, on the defensive and pinned behind the baseline, patted a meek backhand into the net.
