In the great education process that is a tennis career, Andy Murray had to play the part of subservient pupil to the 21st-century master of Flushing Meadows yesterday. The 27-year-old Swiss, Roger Federer, moved with all the majesty he could muster to his thirteenth grand-slam tournament title and to within one of equalling Pete Sampras’s record, playing at a jaw-dropping level to defeat the British No 1 6-2, 7-5, 6-2. It took just an hour and 51 minutes.

All that had happened to him before this year - Federer had won two tournaments and those were relatively minor events in Halle and Estoril - was forgotten as the magic flowed and he won this title for the fifth time in succession to became the first to have won two grand-slam tournaments five times in a row. He was aiming for his sixth at Wimbledon this year before Rafael Nadal threw a spanner in the works. Murray could not do that here. He simply did not have the legs.

Murray did not get down on himself, he gave his all, he played two incredible volleys to withstand the first match point, but he was to play second fiddle to a player he regards as the finest ever. The evidence was there before on Arthur Ashe Stadium last night as Federer took out on Murray the fact that certain ill-judged judges had questioned whether he was a champion in decline. Watch a re-run of this final and decide for yourselves. "You’ve had a great year, no matter what anyone says,” Murray whispered in his ear at the end.

Federer smiled all the way through the interview given before the players walked on to court, though it was conducted by Mary Joe Fernandez, the wife of his agent, so that made for a happy arrangement. There was a serenity about him that had not been evident before the event, indeed not until the semi-final flourish against Novak Djokovic. Murray looked awfully pale and drawn by comparison. Since Fred Perry’s victory in 1936, four British players had lost in grand-slam event finals, Bunny Austin (twice), John Lloyd and Greg Rusedski. Murray was going to have his work cut out.

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Murray is not your polite public schoolboy. He’s a ferocious stand up and be counted Scot

Simon Barnes

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As is his wont, Murray chose to receive serve having won the toss, hoping he might catch the Swiss cold, but Federer held to love and it was not until he delivered a 129mph ace in his first service game that Murray had had a sniff. Federer was sharp and decisive in blustery conditions, whereas Murray was having to hit every shot to the optimum to stay in the rallies.

It was beginning to take the shape, worryingly for British prospects, of man against boy. Federer knew his place, Murray was uncertain of his. Federer was returning serve so well and needed no greater invitation than a double fault that placed Murray love-30 down in the sixth game. A forehand cross-court error confirmed the break, Murray’s gesture for a challenge appeared forlorn and was adjudged so by Hawk-Eye.

In the middle of the ensuing game, Federer produced a succession of shots of such depth and beauty that he was able to finish off the point with a flashing forehand cross-court volley, with both feet off the ground. Murray was looking more wan by the minute. A second break of serve in the eighth game, the final point of which was a miscued backhand, brought Federer the opening set in 26 decidedly one-sided minutes.

Though the final was played on a working day at 5pm, the tournament posted notices of a sell-out attendance of 23,763. It was to be hoped they would have enough tennis to watch to satisfy them. It began to look very shaky for Murray when Federer held in the first game and, warming to his task, promptly broke Murray in the next, preying on the challenger’s errant nature.

Something had to happen quickly if Murray was not going to subside. He needed a shot, a trick, someone tossing him a rabbit’s foot. Anything. And then Federer came over a touch wobbly, Murray stepped up his pace off the ground, found the piece of inspiration for which he had been groping. He broke to love. The ensuing Federer service game may have proved to be a critical turning point in the Swiss’s favour. Federer was suddenly three more break points down, the last of which was generated by a vicious backhand by Murray from the baseline that trapped Federer volleying too close to the service line. He netted.

If one of these opportunities were taken, the whole tenor of the final could alter. Federer was either riding his luck, or deriving dividends from being one of the finest players of all time, it depended on your point of view. He struck out boldly, twice catching the baseline with forehands and saving the first. He did the same on the second, though this time a forehand was nudged slightly long and, had Murray called immediately for a challenge, he would, on the evidence shown to television audiences, have prevailed. When a forehand volley from Federer brought the game to deuce, one knew how it would finally fall. Murray argued at the subsequent changeover that "it was not close" but it had been his call to make.

When Murray began to rub his right knee towards the end of the set, the portents for a recovery in the match were not encouraging. Federer kept hanging around, holding his serve with differing degrees of difficulty, but keeping his nose in front. Murray would loved to have sneaked a tie-break but it was not to be as Federer twice took the net away in the twelfth game, and completed the task with a forehand flourish from an attempted drop shot.

The match was beginning to slip, inexorably, through Murray’s fingers. There was a definite sagging of the shoulders and Federer was too much of a giant of the game not to know when to seize the moment. Murray was heading downhill fast, twice losing his serve to love and accepting what had seemed inevitable from the first bounce of the ball. He did not even have the energy to shout or scream at himself or anyone else. He was just relentlessly, remorselessly worn down. The match ended in a flurry of winners on one side, a stream of misses on the other.