By Fitzgerald Cecilio

Wimbledon, England

Roger Federer will regain the No. 1 spot in the world rankings after winning a record-matching seventh Wimbledon crown with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Great Britain's Andy Murray at the All-England Club.

"Today was unique because of playing Andy," said Federer, who joined William Renshaw and Pete Sampras as the only seven-time winners at the grass-court Grand Slam event, adding to his triumphs in 2003-2007 and 2009

Federer improves his record at the grass-court Grand Slam event to 66-7 record. He made it to his eighth final, with his only defeat coming to Rafael Nadal in 2008.

Federer has also extended his record by capturing his 17th major singles title. He won his first Grand Slam trophy since defeating Murray in the Australian Open final in 2010.

"Obviously, being able to play or finish a match under the roof, I don't think that's ever been done before here for a final. So that's been different, as well. I'm happy I got a victory today, but obviously it was very, very special," added Federer, who finished the match in three hours and 24 minutes.

Federer will tie Sampras' all-time record of 286 weeks in the top spot. At 30 years and 335 days, he is the second-oldest man to hold the No. 1 ranking, behind Andre Agassi who was 33 years and 131 days old. He was dethroned from the top spot by Nadal on 7 June 2010.

"This year, I guess, I decided in the bigger matches, to take it more to my opponent instead of waiting a bit more for the mistakes," Federer said. "This is, I guess, how you want to win Wimbledon, by going after your shots, believing you can do it, and that's what I was able to do today. It's special."

Federer has a 46-4 match record on the season and has won four ATP World Tour titles. Only David Ferrer has won more matches this season with 47 victories.

Murray, for his part, was eyeing to end Britain's 76-year wait for a male Grand Slam champion since Fred Perry won the 1936 US championships.

He suffered his fourth defeat in a Grand Slam final, losing to Federer at the 2008 US Open and the 2010 Australian Open and to Novak Djokovic at the 2011 Australian Open.

"I thought I played a pretty good match," said Murray. "There was a lot of close shots, a lot of close games, a lot of break points here and there. He played very, very well the last two sets especially. When the roof closed, he played unbelievable tennis."

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Federer Captures Record-Tying Seventh Wimbledon Crown