ANDY MURRAY believes he is getting closer to breaking his grand slam duck despite suffering a straight-sets defeat to Roger Federer in the final of the Australian Open yesterday.

The 22-year-old was beaten 6-3 6-4 7-6 (13/11) under the Rod Laver Arena lights in the second major final appearance of his career.

Murray also lost to Federer in straight sets in his first trip to a grand slam final at the 2008 US Open, however, the Scot found more reason to be enthused by this display.

An anxious beginning had allowed Federer to coast through the opening two sets before Murray finally produced the form that had seen him lose just one set and eliminate defending champion Rafael Nadal en route to the final.

The Scot went toe-to-toe with the world number one in the third set before an enthralling tie-break, when he passed up five set points before Federer finally closed out the match.

‘‘The match was a lot closer than the one at Flushing Meadows,’’ he said.

‘‘I had chances at the end of the match.

“It’s just the second set that didn’t go my way, I felt like I had opportunities in the rest of them.

‘‘I’m getting closer (to a grand slam). My results in the grand slams would show that.”

Murray, who will rise to world number three after his final loss, made a tearful postmatch speech and while he admitted the emotion of failing to reach his lifetime ambition had been hard to stomach, he vowed to one day lift one of tennis’ most prized trophies.

‘‘I don’t feel great,’’ he added.

‘‘I worked really hard to get to this stage. I wanted to win the tournament.

‘‘It was pretty emotional at the end of the match, but I’m hungry to win one. It’s something I’ve wanted since I was 16 or 17, but so far it’s not been good enough.

‘‘I’m sure one day it will be.

When it comes, maybe because of the two losses, it will be even better.’’ Murray denied nerves had got the better of him, saying his defeat was down to the class of his rival.

‘‘I didn’t feel nervous. He just puts a lot of pressure on you with the way he plays,’’ he said.

‘‘You need to focus really hard throughout the match. I thought it was a high-standard match.

‘‘The second set I just wasn’t particularly happy with, but the rest was pretty good.

‘‘Obviously I need to improve and try to make my game better for these situations.’’ Federer’s victory was his 16th in 22 grand slam finals and his fourth at Melbourne Park.

And while he had the better of the opening two sets, he said the tension of the thirdset tie-breaker, which lasted 18 minutes, had made the victory a memorable occasion.

The Swiss needed three championship points, after Murray had himself spurned five set points, to clinch it, and admitted he thought he had missed his chance after playing a drop-shot which Murray ran down to save a championship point.

“I don’t even remember the score, it was such a long tiebreak,”

he said.

‘‘This felt similar to the Wimbledon victory in a way, because all of a sudden it was over and it hit me.

‘‘It was very much a rollercoaster with the emotions.’’ One of the few accolades to have so far escaped Federer is a calendar grand slam, but with Nadal troubled by his knee injury the possibility of him winning all four slam this year looms on the horizon.

■ Justine Henin was ‘‘not ready’’ to defeat Serena Williams in the final of the Australian Open, according to her coach Carlos Rodriguez.

The 27-year-old lost a memorable three-set battle with the American 6-4 3-6 6-2 in just her second tournament back from a 20-month retirement.

Henin also reached the final of her comeback tournament in Brisbane earlier this month, when she lost to Kim Clijsters, but Rodriguez believe his protege is still six months away from being able to beat the best.

‘‘I think we can see on the court that she was not ready to beat somebody like Serena,’’ he said