It was his grandest occasion, but it was not to be Andy Murray’s finest hour on Monday night as he succumbed in straight sets to a majestic Roger Federer in the final of the US Open.

After a lacklustre performance in the opening set, losing 6-2, Murray finally got motoring in set two and pushed Federer all the way until the Swiss broke the Scot’s serve to prevail 7-5.  In the third, Murray looked all but beaten as the reigning champion raced to a 5-0 lead, but mounted a brief comeback before eventually losing 6-2.

Just 24-hours earlier, Murray had vanquished the seemingly invincible world number 1 Rafael Nadal at a relative canter compared to some of his earlier matches in the tournament, but though the immovable object in the guise of the Spaniard finally shifted, Murray could find no way to halt the irresistible force that was Federer.

Simply put, Roger Federer was magnificent.  He was smooth, rhythmic and clinical.  Murray in contrast struggled to settle, failed to find his range on too many occasions and looked more than a little distracted by his troublesome right knee.

Of course the fact that while Federer rested yesterday, Murray was squaring up the human bulldozer that is Nadal.  That would obviously come to stand in the world number two’s favour.  Federer looked much the fresher of the two, and was visibly more relaxed than the flustered Murray in breaks between sets.

Murray did produce glimpses of the magic that saw him make his first senior grand slam final, but his game was laden with too many errors against a man who looks to have recaptured the form that saw him become one of the greatest icons the tennis world has ever seen.

But Murray’s feat is not to be underestimated.  To reiterate, he gave Rafael Nadal the biggest thrashing the Mallorcan has seen this year.  He made it to the final of a grand slam and in the process placed himself amongst the world’s very elite.  The three men above him, Nadal, Federer and Djokovic, are the reigning champions in the four 2008 majors.

Now his next challenge is to build on what he has achieved.  Murray is to be no flash in the pan.  He must enjoy his break, but also work harder than he has ever done before in the off-season.  That is what he must to simply keep up with the other three, let alone overtake them.

To make the next step, and break that triumvirate, Murray must discover one of the few traits he has so far lacked in his ever improving game: consistency.

He has no excuses this time.  He has had an injury free few months, and appears to be quite settled with his coaching staff.  In 2009 he will be expected to reach at least the last eight, if not the semi-finals of the Australian Open.  He must also put in a respectable showing at the French Open, though his critics will be more lenient with him on the clay courts.

Then next summer, Murray-mania must be in full swing and feeling frisky.  Wimbledon 2009 and the next instalment of what we have just witnessed will be where his public expect the most from him.  To be the man he must take a slam, there’s no way round it.

On top of all that, and perhaps most importantly, Murray must string together a good run of results on the ATP tour.  He must let his opponents see that like Nadal, you will never get an easy match against Andy Murray.  This in turn will assist his ranking points and seeding for the slam events.

But he’s good for it.  Winners always are, and though he lost last night, few will deny that Andy Murray is one of Scotland’s big winners.