For someone who arrived a little late to yesterday’s U.S. Open final, it would have seemed like a mistake, perhaps a scoreboard error. There was Lleyton Hewitt, the game’s most feisty player, trailing 6-0, 2-0 in a little over 20 minutes. Was he hurt? Was he nervous? Was there money riding on the match?

The answer to the riddle was Roger Federer, who once again proved himself the game’s dominant player with a 6-0, 7-6(3), 6-0 thrashing of historic proportions. Federer won his first U.S. Open and his third Grand Slam of the year, a feat last accomplished by Mats Wilander in 1988. As he sat with his latest mantelpiece afterward, the defending Australian Open and Wimbledon champion said he had achieved more than he ever thought he would.

“I couldn’t have asked for more,” he said, “Not even in my wildest dreams I would have ever thought I’m going to win the U.S. Open.”

Not only did Federer win, but he did it as convincingly as any man in U.S Open history. It was the most lopsided final since Stefan Edberg’s drubbing of Jim Courier, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0, in 1991. No man had won two sets at love since 1884, when Richard Sears needed four sets to do it against Howard Taylor.

The victory was Federer’s fourth career Grand Slam title and sealed his reputation as a player who brings his best game to the court on the biggest day. Before yesterday, no player in the men’s game had ever won his first four Grand Slam finals. Federer, fittingly, is now in a class all his own.

“When he plays like he did today, he’s in a different league from all the other players,” said Hewitt, 23, who hadn’t dropped a set coming into the final and had won eight of his 13 matches with Federer, 23, before yesterday’s loss. “He’s taken it to another level.”

Asked if anyone would have had a chance against Federer yesterday, Hewitt said: “I don’t think anyone in the actual tournament. I don’t know. Maybe Pete Sampras.”

Federer earned $1 million for the victory. Hewitt, who won the inaugural U.S. Open Series and had been the tour’s hottest player this summer, walked away with $500,000 in prize money plus a $250,000 series bonus.

Federer closed out the match with a forehand winner up the line, his third of the game, as an overwhelmed Hewitt, normally full of hustle, stood idly by. Federer raced to the net and fell forward in a heap with his hands over his head. He then rolled over onto his back as Hewitt stepped over the net to give him a handshake and a hug.

After he lost to Federer in the semifinals, Tim Henman explained what it might take to outdo Federer at his best: “If you take [Andy] Roddick’s serve and [Andre] Agassi’s returns and my volleys and Hewitt’s speed and tenacity, then you’ve probably got a good chance.”

In the first set yesterday, it would have taken Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, and perhaps a set of shackles, too. Federer played nearly flawless tennis, belting his forehand from the first point and making only two unforced errors. It was a clinic, a virtuoso performance that spared Hewitt only five points in the first set.

Hewitt never had a game point on his serve and twice on break point he double-faulted. He lost the last two games at love and was left reeling in his chair after 18 minutes.

“My forehand was working really to perfection,” Federer said. “It couldn’t have started better.”

The second set began with more of the same, as Federer broke Hewitt in the first game. At 30-all, Hewitt missed a forehand just wide, but Federer was already set to take a swipe at the ball and smacked a backhand crosscourt for what would have been perhaps his hardest struck winner of the match. He was on fire.

To his credit, Hewitt did not give up. He started to hold his serve and put a little more pressure on Federer. Hewitt earned his first break point trailing 3-2, but Federer fired three of his 11 aces in succession to hold. In the next game, Hewitt charged back from love-40 down to stay in the set.

After earning a break point in two straight return games, Hewitt finally found an opening in the best game of the match. With Federer serving at 5-4 for a commanding two-sets-none lead, Hewitt scrambled all over the court and saved two set points before he finally pulled even on his fourth break chance.

The game spanned 18 points and lasted more than 10 minutes, and the crowd cheered wildly for its underdog and began to mill about for food. Norm Chryst, the chair umpire, had to remind them that there was still another game to be played before the next changeover.

Hewitt took his first lead of the day at 6-5, but Federer easily took the set to a tiebreak. There, Hewitt found himself down 4-0 in seconds and he could not recover.

“If I would have lost that set, that would have been bad,” Federer said. “Being one set all, it would have been a different match.”

Federer returned to the offensive in the third set and rolled over Hewitt in 25 minutes. Down two breaks, Hewitt looked forlorn. The task was insurmountable; Federer would not be beaten. “There’s not a lot I could do out there,” Hewitt said.

For Federer, records and streaks abound. He’s the fourth player to win three Grand Slams in a season, along with Wilander, Jimmy Connors, and Laver. He’s won 11 straight finals and 17 consecutive matches against top-10 players, including 12 this year.

Earlier in the year he became the first player since Borg in 1979 to win three consecutive tournaments on grass, clay, and hard courts. In eight career Grand Slam semifinals and finals, the world no. 1 has lost just one set. He’s also the first player from Switzerland to win the U.S. Open. And he’s achieved most if this without a coach.

“Maybe he doesn’t need one,” Hewitt said.