Returning to Wimbledon's hallowed Centre Court turf four weeks to the day since bursting into tears after losing to Federer, an irrepressible 25-year-old (pictured top) seemed on automatic pilot as he produced a brilliant display of shot-making to hammer the shell-shocked Swiss 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in front of a flag-waving, ear-splitting crowd.

On a landmark day for British tennis, Murray then teamed up with Laura Robson to take silver in the mixed doubles as they were narrowly beat 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 by top seeds Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka who struck gold for Belarus.

Serena Williams, having comfortably won the women's singles gold on Saturday to go with her Wimbledon singles title a month ago, teamed up with sister Venus to collect the women's doubles gold, too.

The Americans defeated Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 while Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova took the bronze for Russia.

In the men's singles, rarely in his illustrious career has Federer, now 30, looked so helpless and hapless as Murray, who was simply on fire, turned the tables on him.

Anyone who has watched him over the years knows what the Scot is capable of; but never have we seen him produce such a dazzling, at times almost gravity-defying, performance as he came up with every shot in the book – and more.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) obviously expected Federer to triumph since they had René Fasel, one of its Swiss members, to present the medals.

A delighted Andy Murray cannot hide his joy at winning Olympic men's singles gold

But this was Murray's day to savour against a player who is so often the crowd favourite – except in the world number four's own backyard.

Perhaps it was because he was playing for his country; perhaps it was because, after four heartbreaking defeats in Grand Slam finals, he was feeling less pressure.

Whatever it was, Murray's pinpoint execution was awesome as he bamboozled Federer and forced the normally graceful Swiss, back at number one in the world, into a string of errors as he looked for a way back into the match.

"I have had a lot of tough losses in my career and this is the best way to come back from the Wimbledon final," said an ecstatic Murray, the first British man to win the Olympic singles gold medal since Josiah Ritchie in 1908 and the first to win any tennis medal since Charles Dixon took silver at the 1920 event in Antwerp.

"Every time I play Roger, especially in the big matches, he's made it so difficult for me," said Murray.

"No way did I expect a scoreline like that.

"That's number one for me, the biggest win of my life."

Murray has a decent record against Federer but never had he beaten him in a best of five sets match.

That all changed in less than two hours, however, as Murray took his opponent apart – at one point winning a remarkable nine straight games.

World number one Roger Federer, the silver medallist, had no answer to Murray

His match-winning ace prompted wild celebrations as he climbed into the stands to hug his girlfriend, family and support team, before draping himself in the Union Jack at the medal ceremony.

Making victory even sweeter will be the fact four years ago in Beijing Murray suffered a shock first-round defeat to 77th-ranked Yen-Hsun Lu.

"I didn't expect that at the start of the week," said Murray, who revealed fellow Briton Mo Farah's 10,000 metres win the previous evening had spurred him on.

"I thought I'd go deep into the tournament but I felt so fresh today – it's amazing.

"This week's been incredible for me – not just here but at all the venues.

"When I saw Mo Farah win it was amazing to see how fast he ran that last lap.

"I've lost some tough matches in some tough finals and that's hurt me a lot.

"I think tennis in the Olympics is getting better each time it's played because all the top players are playing now."

Federer who, for once, looked his age on court, said he was "very proud" to have claimed silver in this, his fourth Olympics.

Juan Martín del Petro, who upset Serbia's Novak Djokovic, took the bronze for Argentina after a 7-5, 6-4 victory.

Sisters Serena (left) and Venus Williams claimed the women's doubles crown 

"I could have lost in the first round, and then again in the semi-finals against del Potro – it's been a very emotional week," conceded Federer.

"Maybe today the crowd was a bit more patriotic than at [the] Wimbledon [tournament], but that's not why I lost.

"Andy was just fantastic today.

"Don't forget he's already an amazing player.

"He put me in a tough position time and time again.

"The result was brutal but I tried extremely hard.

"Every Olympics has been a life-changer for me in terms of the Olympic spirit."

Mixed doubles duo Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka celebrate a rare gold for Belarus

Belarus do not get too many gold medals so it was no surprise when Azarenka, who also won a bronze in the women's singles, could not contain her joy.

"It's every athlete's dream to win gold 'cos you don't get many chances like you do in the Grand Slams, she said.

"It's something special – I'm just overwhelmed."

The unseeded Murray and Robson got desperately close, however, to upsetting the pair and making it two golds for Britain, even though they had not played together before London 2012 since early last year.

"We'd won three of those tie-breakers already in the tournament so perhaps we were destined to lose one," said Murray.

"It was annoying after the way we started but we'd have signed up for this at the start of the week."

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