A year after he marched to victory with a 16-under total at Erin Hills, Koepka kept his nerve on the back nine to emerge with a one-over-par total of 281.

“I’m at a loss for words right now,” Koepka said. “We grinded our tail off this week to come back from seven-over (on Friday) and do what we did. It was pretty special.”

The world number nine is the first player since Curtis Strange in 1988-89 to win back-to-back US Open titles.

After overpowering the wide-open Erin Hills, he kept his nerve through four brutal days at Shinnecock.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Koepka, who had battled a partially torn wrist tendon that sidelined him nearly four months since his major breakthrough last year. “I don’t think I could have dreamed of this, going back to back.”

A day after scores soared on the dried out greens, the US Golf Association admitted the course got out of hand, adding plenty of moisture and some slightly more forgiving pin positions.

England’s 12th-ranked Fleetwood seized the opportunity to match the lowest round ever in the US Open with a brilliant seven-under 63 for a two-over total of 282.

Fleetwood had stormed into the clubhouse with a round that included eight birdies, putting the pressure on overnight leaders Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Daniel Berger and Tony Finau.

Only Koepka met the challenge. He had broken out of the pack with three birdies in the first four holes.

Playing in freshening wind and knowing that Fleetwood was in the clubhouse on two-over Koepka produced a string of clutch putts on the back nine.

A six-foot birdie at the 10th gave him a two-stroke lead. A tough 12-footer limited the damage at 11 to a bogey after he hit into the greenside rough and from there into a bunker.

He got up and down for par at the 12th, and escaped with a par from deep rough at 14 before giving himself some breathing room with a birdie at the par-five 16th — where he stuck his third shot less than four feet from the pin.

His approach at 18 hit a grandstand and bounced off, but a closing bogey was all he needed.

Thai No 1 Kiradech Aphibarnrat shot a final 73 to settle at lone 15th on nine over-par-289.

– ‘Great day’ for Fleetwood –

Fleetwood could only watch it all unfold. But after nearly equalling the best ever round in a major of 62 he was pleased with his day’s work.

“At the end of the day, I got within one of winning, when I was so far back at the start of the day,” said Fleetwood, who was nine adrift through 54 holes. “So it’s been a great day.

“It’s easy to look at it and think I was one shy, but there’s so many positives to look at and so much that you can take and learn from it.”

It was the first time since 2013 at Merion that no one broke par in the US Open, and of the four overnight leaders, Koepka was the only player to shoot an under par final round.

World number one Johnson, playing alongside Koepka in the penultimate group, saw the sure putting touch that had propelled him to a four-shot halfway lead, carded an even-par 70 to finish alone in third on 283.

Finau, playing in the final group with Berger, closed with a double bogey at the 72nd hole for a 72 that left him fifth on 285 — one stroke behind Masters champion Patrick Reed.

Reed fired five birdies in his first seven holes but cooled off coming in for a two-under 68.

Berger faded early, his 73 leaving him tied for sixth at six-over with England’s Tyrrell Hatton, American Xander Schauffele and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson.

The top-seeded Swiss beat his Canadian opponent for the 11th time in 14 meetings while winning a first Stuttgart title.

Federer, who will be chasing a ninth Wimbledon triumph next month, finally came good on the German grass on his third attempt after losing a semi-final in 2016 to Dominic Thiem and falling in the first round here a year ago to good friend Tommy Haas.

“I’m just very happy how I played this week,” the 20-time Grand Slam champion said. “I never felt bad on the court, to be honest.

“That’s a very encouraging feeling. In the last couple of days I’ve not dropped serve.

“I was there in the most important moments, breaking Milos (in the first set) was a good effort. It’s been a great week for me.”

The 36-year-old will regain the world number one ranking on Monday and is playing next week as top seed in Halle as he continues his comeback after skipping the clay-court season.

“It’s a great comeback for me,” Federer said after completing his 78-minute win.

“I’m so happy to win this tournament in my third attempt. We’ll see if being number one again will probably give me a boost.”

Federer secured a return to the top ATP ranking for a sixth time with his semi-final victory on Saturday over Australian Nick Kyrgios.

He takes the honour back from Rafael Nadal for the second time this season.

Federer kept tight control on the match as he claimed his third title of the season after the Australian Open and Rotterdam and now owns 18 grass trophies including eight from Wimbledon.

“I think I played very well not having played for a while,” Federer added.

“Maybe I was a bit better on the big points.”

The Swiss broke twice in the first set to take it after 32 minutes when his opponent returned long over the baseline.

The second set stayed on serve into a tiebreaker.

A double fault from the Canadian followed by a return winner from the Swiss set up three match points, with Federer needing only his first as Raonic netted a return.

Federer improved to 21-2 for the season after playing in the 24th grass final of his career.

Next week, he will open his Halle bid in the first round against Aljaz Bedene.

However, first on his mind is the World Cup with Switzerland facing Brazil on Sunday night in Russia.

“It will be a hectic 48 hours,” said Federer. “I’m driving to Switzerland tonight and will then watch the match — I don’t know if that one will be hectic or not…”

Federer will fly to Halle on Monday to prepare for what he is told is a Tuesday start.

“The key for me is to be ready for that opening match. I’m defending a title there — like I am at Wimbledon. I need to get through the first round.”

As he takes things one step at a time, Federer is not yet ready to start concentrating on the job ahead at the All England Club.

“That’s the plan for now, for Wimbledon I still have time. I have a quiet pre-tournament week, not many things going on, which is fine.

“I just hope to stay injury-free and healthy.”

Out to try and stop him at Halle will be world number three and second seed Alexander Zverev, who had cast doubt on his fitness after losing in the Roland Garros quarter-finals to eventual finalist Thiem.

Zverev will start his grass season by facing Croatian Borna Coric.

Third seed Thiem, who lost to Nadal a week ago in the French Open final, begins with a match against a qualifier.

Germany’s preparations ahead of the World Cup were plagued by poor results and controversy, and their problems were magnified in Moscow as they crashed to their first defeat in the opening game of a World Cup since 1982.

Hirving Lozano’s 35th-minute strike at the Luzhniki Stadium earned Mexico just the second win over Germany in history, as Loew’s side paid the price for a dismal first half.

“In the first half we played very badly,” Loew said. “We weren’t able to impose our usual way of playing, our attacking and passing was not effective.”

“It’s disappointing to have lost the first match,” he added. “It’s a situation we’re not used to at all. In many previous tournaments we’ve always won the first match but we have to accept it.”

Germany’s proud record of never being eliminated in the group stage at a World Cup is already in danger.

And if they finish runners-up in Group F, Germany could be on course to face Brazil in a daunting second-round match-up.

Germany face Sweden in their next match on June 23 in Sochi before concluding their group campaign four days later in Kazan against South Korea.

Mexico’s defender Hector Moreno (L) and Germany’s forward Thomas Mueller (2L) vie for the ball.

“The team has experience dealing with losses. It goes without saying that the next match will be decisive for us, we have to win it,” Loew said.

“We will not change our gameplan. If we play out our ideas then we have players who are able to deliver.

“We need to focus on our strong points, which we haven’t been able to do in our last couple of games.

“We have three matches in the group phase and we have ample opportunities to correct this result.”

Loew started eight of the nine 2014 World Cup winners in his squad, with Mesut Ozil returning from a knee injury and Manuel Neuer back in goal following his lengthy absence.

Mexico’s forward Hirving Lozano celebrates after scoring a goal.

– ‘Best goal’ –

Jerome Boateng’s build-up to the finals was also hampered by a groin injury, and the Bayern Munich centre-back found himself exposed often as Mexico’s speed was a constant threat on the counter-attack.

After a remarkably open start, Mexico struck the decisive blow 10 minutes before half-time after Sami Khedira lost possession in the opposition half.

Javier Hernandez triggered a lightning break before finding a charging Lozano, who cut inside a covering Ozil and lashed low inside Neuer’s near post to spark deafening roars from the sizeable Mexico support.

“I think it’s definitely the best goal I’ve ever scored in my life, we all dream of playing in the World Cup,” PSV Eindhoven forward Lozano said.

“I don’t know if it’s the biggest win in (Mexico’s) history but doubtless it is one of the biggest for sure.

“It’s great to start on the right foot when you’re playing against the world champions.”

Germany hit back, Toni Kroos rattling the crossbar with a 25-yard free-kick that needed the fingertips of a scrambling Ochoa to keep it out, but Mexico barely clung on to their advantage.

At 39, Rafael Marquez became just the third player to feature at five World Cups as he was brought for the final 15 minutes to fortify Mexico’s defence.

A frenetic finale saw substitute Julian Brandt smack the outside of the post with a thunderous effort from 20 yards.

One desperate last attack then had Neuer come up for a corner before Mexico closed out an unforgettable triumph.

“I think it’s a milestone for Mexican football,” said Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio.

“We played with bravery when it was needed and defended with all our hearts, I think we need to give the credit where it’s due and that’s to the players.”

On the day when holders Germany were shocked 1-0 by Mexico, Brazil’s tag as pre-tournament favourites looked justified in a dominant first-half capped by Philippe Coutinho’s wonder strike to open the scoring.

However, Brazil paid for their failure to kill the game off when Steven Zuber powered home an equaliser from Xherdan Shaqiri’s corner five minutes after the break.

The pressure will now be on Brazil to kickstart their campaign when they face Costa Rica on Friday.

The stalemate left Tite unimpressed.

“I’m not happy with this result. Our finishing wasn’t good. We had 20 chances, but too many shots were off target. We should have made their keeper work harder than that.

“I put it down to stress, first match nerves, that’s true for me too,” the Brazil boss said.

He added: “Up to their goal, I was satisfied. We were moving well. Then they raised their game, and it took us 10 minutes to regain our rhythm. But once again, our finishing wasn’t good.”

His Swiss counterpart Vladimir Petkovic had an understandably more upbeat assessment of the game.

“I’m proud of my lads. I hope this will mean we are taken seriously,” he said.

Earlier, Serbia beat Los Ticos 1-0 to move to the top of Group F.

Coutinho had been handed a central role behind Neymar, on his first competitive game for four months, Gabriel Jesus and Willian in a line-up filled with attacking intent.

The five-time world champions went about their task of erasing the memories of a 7-1 thrashing by Germany on home soil four years ago purposefully early on.

Paulinho passed up a glorious chance when his scuffed effort from close range was turned behind by Yann Sommer.

It seemed a matter of time before Brazil’s pressure paid dividends and the opener arrived in stunning style on 20 minutes.

Barcelona’s record signing picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area and in trademark fashion bent the ball crashing in off Sommer’s far post.

Neymar looked bright despite his lack of match practice as he teased the Swiss defence provoking yellow cards for Stephan Lichtsteiner, Fabian Schar and Valon Behrami.

However, Brazil failed to build on their lead as Thiago Silva and Jesus headed off target from dangerous corners and were made to pay early in the second-half.

Switzerland had offered barely any attacking threat before levelling when Zuber took advantage of a gaping hole in the heart of the Brazilian defence to head home Shaqiri’s corner.

Forced back onto the front foot, Brazil turned to Neymar for a moment of inspiration but he could only blast into the side-netting before Coutinho sliced wide with a much simpler opportunity than the one from which he opened the scoring.

Brazil were unhappy that Zuber wasn’t penalised for a slight push on Miranda for the equaliser and felt hard done by again when Jesus tumbled under a challenge from Manuel Akanji inside the area with Mexican referee Cesar Ramos unmoved.

Tite’s men ended as they had begun with a series of chances for a late winner as Neymar and Roberto Firmino headed straight at Sommer before Miranda dragged a shot inches wide.

And deep into stoppage time Schar’s outstretched leg turned a goalbound effort from Silva wide as Switzerland held out for a vital point.

The Roma defender made the crucial breakthrough early in the second half with a magnificent effort, and although Serbia missed chances to further extend their lead, they were not overly troubled by the Costa Ricans.

The win puts Serbia in a strong early position in Group E ahead of games against Brazil and Switzerland as they look to reach the last 16 for the first time since becoming an independent country, while Costa Rica have it all to do to repeat their surprise run to the quarter-finals four years ago.

Serbia coach Mladen Krstajic handed Branislav Ivanovic his 104th international appearance, making the former Chelsea centre-back the most-capped player in his nation’s history, moving clear of Dejan Stankovic in the all-time list.

Costa Rica started brightly, with Vladimir Stojkovic diving to save at the feet of Marcos Urena, before Giancarlo Gonzalez headed straight at the Serbia goalkeeper.

The Central Americans should have taken the lead in the 12th minute, but Bologna defender Gonzalez inexplicably headed over when unmarked at the back post with the goal at his mercy.

Serbia grew into the game and started to dominate possession, with Costa Rica playing in the same style which brought them so much success in 2014, sitting deep and looking to pounce on the counter-attack.

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, whose non-selection during qualifying led to Slavo Muslin’s sacking as Serbia coach, almost broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time, but his overhead kick was well kept out by Real Madrid ‘keeper Keylor Navas in the Costa Rica goal.

Serbia did take the lead in the 56th minute, though, and in fine style.

The 32-year-old Kolarov fired a sublime left-footed free-kick over the wall, dipping into the top corner past a despairing dive from Navas.

Coach Oscar Ramirez threw on Arsenal forward Joel Campbell, Costa Rica’s star player in Brazil in 2014, in search of an equaliser.

Campbell’s speed almost got him in behind the Serbia defence just seconds after coming on, but it was Serbia who blew a gilt-edged chance to score a second.

Dusan Tadic’s low cross picked out Filip Kostic, but the substitute miskicked in front of an open goal, perhaps due to a slight touch on the ball by Navas.

There was a late scuffle as Nemanja Matic tried to take the ball off a member of the Costa Rican staff on the sidelines, before a VAR red-card review saw Aleksandar Prijovic booked for a separate incident, but Serbia held on with relative ease for a potentially priceless win.

Alfred Finnbogason cancelled out Sergio Aguero’s opening goal before Hannes Halldorsson saved a Messi penalty in the second half on Saturday as Iceland emerged with a creditable point.

“If you are teaching defence against such a team then this 90 minutes is a schoolbook example of how to do it,” coach Heimir Hallgrimsson told reporters at the team’s Black Sea coast base near Gelendzhik.

“To deny a team like Argentina that has incredible individual skills, you have to close the spaces and defend correctly one on one,” he said.

“It was not one player who stopped Messi or any of the others, it was collective teamwork.”

“You have to respect Messi like you do everyone you play against but if you stand by and idolise him he’s going to take advantage of that and go past you, so you have to play your normal game,” said captain Aron Gunnarsson.

The island nation of 330,000 is the smallest ever to qualify for the World Cup finals but emphatically showed again they can mix it with the heavyweights of the game.

At Euro 2016,  Iceland drew against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal and famously beat England on the way to the quarter-finals.

The point won against Argentina creates a “more relaxed atmosphere and easier sleep” in the run-up to Iceland’s next tie against Group D opponents Nigeria in Volgograd on Friday, said Hallgrimsson.

“We knew a point would be a good result but it’s just business done,” said Gunnarsson. “We can’t dwell on it, or think that we’ve won something. If we don’t focus on Nigeria, then that point will be good for nothing”.

Four years after injury cut short his World Cup and Brazil went on to suffer a humiliating 7-1 semi-final defeat to Germany without him, Neymar is once again spearheading his country’s hopes.

The Paris Saint-Germain striker’s participation at the finals in Russia had been cast into doubt after he suffered a broken bone in his right foot in late February.

However, the 26-year-old forward has shown few signs of rust since returning for Brazil, scoring in consecutive friendlies on the eve of the finals.

That could spell trouble for Switzerland as they take on Brazil in Group E on Sunday.

Brazil coach Tite, who masterminded a dominant qualifying campaign that saw the “Selecao” finish 10 points clear of their rivals, said Neymar was “not 100 percent”.

“But he has exceptional physical qualities, his speed in particular. In any case, he is in a suitable state to play,” Tite said.

Neymar is the focal point of one of the most menacing attacks in the tournament, and could line up in a front four that includes Gabriel Jesus, Philippe Coutinho and Willian.

Brazil meet Switzerland in the newly built 45,000 Rostov Arena in Sunday’s evening game but before that Germany play Mexico in a mouthwatering tie in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, where they will be hoping to return for the final on July 15.

– Chasing history –

Germany breezed through qualifying, scoring 43 goals and conceding just four and, astonishingly, they average almost four goals a game in their opening World Cup matches since last losing their first tournament game in 1982 against Algeria.

Coach Joachim Loew has, like the Brazilians, transformed the team from 2014 to the extent that the man who scored the World Cup winning goal in Rio, Mario Goetze, is not in the squad.

A young German side last year won the Confederations Cup in Russia, thumping Mexico 4-1 along the way.

Mexico only lost one game in qualifying and have always reached at least the second round of every World Cup they have played. But they have not beaten Germany in three attempts at various World Cups.

Germany are attempting to become only the third side in the World Cup’s 88-year history to successfully defend their title, after Italy (1934-1938) and Brazil (1958-1962).

The magnitude of that task is not lost on Loew.

“It’s the most difficult feat and history has demonstrated that. No one in 60 years has done it,” he said on Saturday.

“Teams develop and change, players finish their careers and you must bring in new players which makes it the most difficult achievement.”

Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio pledged his team would go on the attack against the Germans, who he said were favourites to win the World Cup.

“Nevertheless, we can compete with them,” he said. “We think we have a good chance to match up with them and go head to head against them.”

Sunday’s first game sees 2014 World Cup surprise package Costa Rica take on Serbia in Samara.

Away from the football, Russian authorities said a taxi driver who ploughed into pedestrians on a pavement near Red Square in Moscow on Saturday, injuring at least seven people, had been suffering from exhaustion.

The taxi driver, a 28-year-old man from the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, told police during questioning that he had been working for 20 hours solid before the incident and had mixed up the brake pedal and the accelerator.

The driver said he ran from the scene because he feared he would be beaten to death.

The incident occurred about 200 metres (yards) from Red Square, which was packed with foreign football fans snapping pictures of the Kremlin on a warm and sunny afternoon.

And a space for gay and ethnic minority football fans in Saint Petersburg during the World Cup was forced to relocate at the last minute in a move activists believe was politically motivated.

Piara Powar, director of the international anti-discrimination network FARE, which is overseeing the project, said the move was “familiar” to rights groups.

British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell was briefly arrested last week for a one-man protest near Red Square against President Vladimir Putin’s record on gay rights.

Violence against gays in Russia regularly makes global headlines.

    Now, the midfielder is back in the region at Sweden’s World Cup training base in Gelendzhik, less than 200 kilometres (124 miles) along the Black Sea coast from the region annexed by Russia.

“I’m very close to where I used to be,” Svensson, 31, told reporters as the Nordic side prepared for their World Cup opener against South Korea Monday.

“Some memories are coming back, but not all bad ones, I mostly remember the positive ones from there,” he said.

The former IFK Goteborg and Bursaspor stalwart signed for Tavriya Simferopol in 2012 and played 21 times for the club.

Then in February 2014, pro-Russian militia suddenly appeared in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, taking over the airport and other strategic locations in the city.

By April, Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered military units to enter the peninsula, prompting Svensson and foreign teammates to flee from Crimea on a bus past militia checkpoints into mainland Ukraine.

“Power and military enters and takes over what it thinks is theirs. There are other ways to solve things, it was a very wrong way to act,” said Svensson.

The player had hoped to return to Ukraine, but decided it would be wiser to return to his former Swedish club Gothenburg.

After moving back to Sweden, Svensson, who now plays for Major League Soccer side Seattle Sounders, says he lost contact with his former Tavriya teammates.

“Most of them went back home, to Argentina and Brazil. It became a bit chaotic,” he said.

These days, two teams called Tavriya carry on the club’s name.

Tavriya Simferopol are now based in mainland Ukraine across the de facto border, while TSK Simferopol, a club founded after the annexation, remains on in the city and plays in a new Crimean league.

Svensson said he had “no idea” the club had split in two.//AFP

The 28-year-old Thai star hit an impressive 2-under 68 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, taking advantage of an early start to shoot five birdies against three bogeys and rose 51 rungs to T7 on 6-over 216 in the year’s second major.

He will enter the final round only three shots behind co-leaders Dustin Johnson (77), Daniel Berger (66), Tony Finau (66) and defending champion Brooks Koepka (72).

Kiradech was only one of three players in the field to break par on golf’s ‘Moving Day’ – the other two being Berger and Finau – as he gave himself a shot at the title and a chance to wrap-up his PGA TOUR card for the 2018-19 season.

“It’s always pressure to be in the U.S. Open. To have a chance to play on the weekend is such a great week. And to move up a lot on my position, I just tried to do everything that my job had to do, keep the ball in play and just hope it will be my day,” said Kiradech, who has two top-5s at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship and WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

The big-hitting Thai, ranked 31^st in the world, found all fairways on Saturday which made life easier for him. After making bogey on three when he found a greenside bunker, he bounced back with birdies on four, five and eight, converting putts from inside of 10 feet. He traded two more birdies on 12 and 17 against dropped shots on 13 and 14 for his first under-par round in two U.S. Open appearances.

Nearly five and a half hours after signing his scorecard, and with the leaders struggling as the winds picked up and greens became devilishly tricky, Kiradech found himself lying in the top-10 of a major championship at any stage for the first time in his blossoming career.

He knows he must repeat his heroics and stay patient on Sunday to have any chance of becoming only the second Asian golfer after South Korea’s Y.E. Yang (2009 PGA Championship) to win a major championship.

“I think it’s all about keeping the ball in play, under the wind and then put it in the right positions. Some putts you have to be a little bit against it, some putts you have to back off a little bit. It just has to be all about the game planning. If you hit it out of position, on this course when you make a mistake, it hurts a lot,” said Kiradech.

“This course, when the wind picks up, is a completely different golf course. Really difficult to put the ball in the fairways, and you can’t hold the greens. And the pins were really tricky. You just have to be really patient and really calm on the shot,” said Kiradech, who will play alongside Masters Tournament winner Patrick Reed in the fourth to last pairing on Sunday.

Koepka dropped four bogeys against two birdies for a 72 which earned him a share of the third  round lead, giving himself a chance to retain the U.S. Open.

“I’m glad I’m in the position I’m in. I feel like, you know, obviously, going off in the morning was a little bit easier. Guys are spinning the balls on the greens. I don’t think there was this much wind. I’m not really quite sure. But it definitely got difficult (in the afternoon). You got to – comes down to winning a U.S. Open, you got to have some grit, some heart. I mean, I’ve won one, so why not win another?,” said Koepka.

Taking a four-shot lead into the third day, Johnson, who regained his world No. 1 mantle after winning the FedEx St. Jude Classic last week, made one double bogey, six bogeys and one birdied to fall back into the field.

Koepka’s two-over effort looked plenty impressive on an afternoon that saw scores soar on the Long Island course’s lightning-fast greens.

And it put him in prime position to become the first player since Curtis Strange in 1988-89 to win back-to-back US Open titles.

“I think I’m just thinking one shot at a time,” Koepka said. “Just keep plugging away, keep doing what I’m doing. I feel really good. I feel confident.”

Koepka started the day five shots behind overnight leader Dustin Johnson.

He opened with a bogey at the first, but rebounded with a birdie at the par-three second and picked up another stroke at the par-three 11th.

After a bogey at the 12th, he rolled in a 61-foot putt to save par at 14, where he was in deep rough off the tee.

A bogey from a fairway bunker followed at 15, and he three-putted the 17th.

“This afternoon was very tough,” Koepka said. “The ball was running out so far on these greens, and some of these putts, there’s just no grass around the hole, so it’s hard to stop it.

“Especially when you get it downhill, downwind, you have no chance of stopping it.”

Even though Shinnecock is offering a more classic US Open test than Erin Hills last year — when Koepka roared to the title with a record-equalling 16-under par total, he said that experience gave him confidence.

His assurance hasn’t dimmed despite a near four-month absence nursing a partially torn wrist ligament, an injury that saw him miss the Masters.

He has bounced back nicely, with a runner-up finish at the Fort Worth Invitational last month.

“There’s nobody more confident,” said Koepka, who has finished 13th or better in eight of his last nine major starts. “I won this thing last year.

“(When it) comes down to winning a US Open, you’ve got to have some grit, some heart. I’ve won one, so why not win another?”