Federer, who had lost his number one world ranking to Rafael Nadal and both his Australian Open and Wimbledon titles in 2008, ended the grand slam year on a high with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 victory in one hour and 51 minutes over the British number one.

The Swiss master's victory saw him equal Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras as five-time US Open winners and move to within one grand slam title of Sampras' record of 14.

Murray, 21, had had history in sight after defeating world number one Nadal in the previous night's semi-final, aiming to become the first British male since Fred Perry at the US national championships in 1936 to win a grand slam.

It was not to be, though, as Federer, seeded second behind Nadal, completed his 34th consecutive victory at Flushing Meadows to arrest a run of three grand slam defeats this year - in the Australian Open semi-final to Djokovic and to Nadal in the French and Wimbledon finals - and prove to his critics he was far from being a spent force in the game.