"He came back from 3-2 and won four games straight, so for me it was really just about trying to break his momentum."

"At least get on the board and maybe the momentum would shift."

"I tried to serve well and to get lucky a little bit and I think that is exactly what happened."

"I think experience helped me there," he added.

In the end, Federer eased his way to victory and furthered his all time men's Grand Slam record.

Although heartbroken and disappointed after the epic five set battle, Cilic said he "was happy with his performance."

"I managed to turn it around in that fourth set and that lifted me, I was hitting the ball great and playing phenomenal," he said.

"But the first game of the 5th set was crucial and it just ran away from me."

The Croatian also admitted that "mentally it was tough" to adjust to tonight's decision by officials to close the roof of the stadium due to the extreme heat.

"I played all my matches outdoors throughout the tournament so it was difficult," Cilic explained.

To ease the blow however, Cilic will pocket 1.6 million U.S. dollars and move up to number three in the world rankings.

Federer will remain in second spot behind Rafael Nadal and walk away with 3.2 million U.S. dollars in prize money.

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