JUST 24 hours after the greatest moment of his career, Andy Murray suffered a battering in the US Open final last night.

Roger Federer clinched his fifth title at Flushing Meadows and the 13th Grand Slam of his career with a 6-2 7-5 6-2 win in just one hour and 51 minutes.

Murray, who beat world No 1 Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals, could certainly have few complaints and was beaten by the better player.

But the better player, of course, was a man who will probably go down as the greatest tennis player of all time.

Federer, who had not won a Slam this year, is now just one title behind Pete Sampras’ all-time record of 14 Major titles.

He dismantled a nervous-looking Murray in the opening set and even though the Brit showed some flashes of genius in the second set, he failed to take his chances.

The champion, 27, raced into a 5-0 lead in the third and although Murray briefly rallied, there was no doubting the result.

A disappointing final, but there is no doubt Murray, 21, will take heart from what has been an extraordinary couple of weeks.

Since the days of playing swingball in the garden with brother Jamie, and the times when he walked around Dunblane in a cap with a ponytail attached at the back in tribute to his hero Andre Agassi, this was the moment Murray had been waiting for.

When he walked out for the final, it was the result of years of graft on dusty tennis courts around the world and whatever he achieves in the rest of his career, Murray will never forget last night despite the result.

Federer, in contrast, was looking to become the first man to win five successive titles at two Grand Slams. Yet he has not had the best of years by his standards, failing to win at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon,

DONE IT ... Roger Federer screams in delight
after winning his fifth straight US Open title

Unsurprisingly considering his record here, the majority of the fans were supporting Federer.

The stadium was disappointingly empty because the final had been rescheduled from Sunday — although throughout the opening set, this intimidating 23,000-capacity arena started to fill up.

Murray appeared nervous in the first set. He did not serve as consistently as he did in his two-day battle with Nadal and he certainly was not staying in the rallies as well. The Brit was trying to find Federer’s backhand as much as possible yet the Swiss star, showing some incredible footwork, was generally able to still use his forehand and delivered some amazing shots.

Federer had not been world No 1 for 237 weeks for nothing and it took him just 27 minutes to take control and grab the first set.

Murray dropped his serve in the sixth game to give Federer the opening break of the match, hitting a crosscourt forehand wide. He challenged the call using Hawk-Eye but lost. Federer’s serve was impressive, dropping just five points in his four service games in that first set.

Almost predictably, Federer took Murray’s serve again by forcing him into a mistake following another thunderbolt forehand and the young sixth seed was facing the battle of his career as he lost the opening set 6-2.

The second set could not have started any worse for Murray as he dropped his serve again to hand Federer a 2-0 lead.

The crowd were becoming quiet as they sensed a routine three-set win for the champion.

Yet Murray rocked the world No 2 by breaking Federer’s serve without dropping a point, securing the break when he wellied a backhand so hard the Fed Express could only volley into the net.

After holding for 2-2, Murray again got his teeth into Federer’s serve.

Looking like the player who humbled Nadal, Murray had three break points and would have won the game had a line judge been paying attention — but he failed to spot that Federer had put a shot long.

At times Murray was dominating Federer yet, infuriatingly, the Brit once again delivered a bad service game at the worst possible time.

Federer rattled off three successive winners and then the Swiss star whipped a terrific forehand down the line to wrap up the set. Federer yelled out a roar of delight as he headed to his chair and little wonder. He knew he was slightly fortunate to have won that set but the pressure was off.

Playing Murray at his own game by throwing in drop shots during long rallies, Federer was now on cruise control and raced into a 3-0 lead in the third.

Ruthless Federer, playing incredibly aggressively, had an answer for virtually everything Murray was now throwing at him.

The match favourite won 12 points in succession at one stage as he raced into a 5-0 lead. It was all rather brutal as the Brit managed just three points in that spell.

Murray, to his credit, at least refused to give up without a fight and he did manage to hold serve before breaking the champion in the seventh game.

But he doubled faulted to give Federer match point. Murray saved that with a volley but Federer took his second Championship point with a smash to become a five-times champion.