Andy Murray will leave New York a million dollars better off and believing he is richer for the experience of his Grand Slam final.

The British number one and sixth seed was no match for Roger Federer on Monday as he lost the US Open final in straight sets at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Yet after a championship in which he came back from two sets to love down against Jurgen Melzer, swept aside 10th seed Stanislas Wawrinka, halted the game's hottest player in Juan Martin Del Potro and defeated world number one Rafael Nadal to reach the final, there was much for Murray to offset the disappointment of a 6-2 7-5 6-2 drubbing at the hands of a now 13-time grand slam champion.

"I'm disappointed right now," Murray said. "I could have done a few more things and given myself a few more opportunities but I'm sure tomorrow or after a few days or whenever it sinks in, it's obviously been a very good couple of weeks.

"And I'll try my best to work on my game, work hard and hopefully come back and do better next time."

Murray earned $750,000 (£425,000) for finishing runner up to five-time defending champion Federer and picked up a $250,000 (£140,000) bonus for finishing second behind Nadal in the US Open Series, based on results during the north American hardcourt season in which he won his first ATP Masters Series title in Cincinnati.

His progress to the US Open final at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre will also see the 21-year-old Scot improve two places in the world ranking to number four.

Murray refused to use as an excuse the fact that having played Nadal on Sunday night to complete a rain-delayed semi-final, Federer had enjoyed an extra day's rest.

"Ideally I would have preferred to be in his position but I don't think that was really the reason why he won the match," he said.

"If he played like that and I was absolutely fresh I'm sure it still would have been a very tough ask for me to win.

"But ideally I would have liked to have a day off."

Murray was deeply impressed by Federer's performance.

"He played great. He made very few mistakes. The times I played him before he had given me a few free points.

"I also served pretty poorly today and the time I played him before he didn't have any break points the whole match against me.

"Today I missed a lot of first serve and he was able to dictate the points on my second serve, especially on the end when the wind was blowing in my face.

"He came in quite a lot when I was down at that end and they made the differences."

It was a display that Murray believes rubbished suggestions that after his semi-final exit to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open and successive slam final defeats to Nadal at the French Open and Wimbledon, the Swiss former world number one was now spent force in the sport at the age of 27.

"I thought he had a great year this year," said the Scot who told Federer as much when congratulating him at the net. "He lost a couple of tough matches.

"I mean, he's 27 now, he's probably got at least four years left right at the top.

"He told me that it was a great tournament for me and I said that I agreed with everyone that he's had a terrible year," Murray joked.

"Making the semis of Australia, final of the French, the final at Wimbledon, playing one of the best matches of all time; winning a gold medal (in Olympic doubles) and obviously winning the US Open.

"I told him that he had a phenomenal year, regardless of what anyone said.

"I have a lot of respect for him."

Federer admitted the victory was sweet after a "couple of tough grand slams this year" but is now able to set his sights on eclipsing Pete Sampras' record 14 titles.

"One thing's for sure, I'm definitely not going to stop at 13. That would be terrible," he joked.

"There are a great bunch of guys behind me and now in front of me as well," he added, referring to his current rivals.

"Well done to Andy, he's done great these last couple of weeks and I'm sure we're going to see much more of him in the future as well."