Tennis

Murray stunned by Wawrinka in US Open quarterfinals

The sun has set on the British reign at the U.S. Open.

A little less than a year ago, Andy Murray left Queens as the King of New York, but the defending champion’s quest for another title ended Thursday afternoon when the third-seed was convincingly crushed by ninth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Murray, who had reached the finals of the past four Grand Slams he played in and nine of the past 10 semifinals, became the first defending champion to fall before the semifinals since Andy Roddick in 2004.

Wawrinka, the 28-year-old Swiss who knocked off fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych in the fourth round and is scheduled to play the winner of top-ranked Novak Djokovic and 21st-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, will make his first Grand Slam semifinal appearance in his 35th major, tying him for the third-most attempts all-time before breaking through.

But on the biggest court in the world, Wawrinka’s nerves were melted by his confidence.

“You never know what’s going to happen, but I knew I was playing good,” said Wawrinka. “Normally, I can be a little bit nervous and I can lose a few games because of that, but today I was just focused on my game.”

Thursday, Murray, who lost to Wawrinka in the third round at the 2010 U.S. Open, never looked right, never showing the confidence that helped him become the first British man in 77 years to win Wimbledon.

The hangover from the long-elusive championship remained.

“You know, when you work hard for something for a lot of years, you know, it’s going to take a bit of time to really fire yourself up and get yourself training, you know, 110%,” said Murray. “You know, that’s something that I think is kind of natural after what happened at Wimbledon.

“But, look, I can’t complain. If someone told me before the U.S. Open last year I would have been here as defending champion, having won Wimbledon and Olympic gold, I would have taken that 100 percent.”

At the end of a sloppy, windy first set, the 26-year-old champion was serving, 4-5, in a game that saw eight deuces. He fought off five set points, but faltered on the sixth, giving Wawrinka the set, while setting up Murray’s most memorable swing of the match, as he shattered his racket after violently slamming it to the ground.

Wawrinka remained remarkably composed, despite entering the match 0-3 in Grand Slam quarterfinals, while Murray repeatedly berated himself for his poor play.

“I mean, I would have liked to have played a little bit better, but, you know, I have had a good run the last couple of years,” Murray said. ” It’s a shame I had to play a bad match today. He hit big shots. He passed extremely well. He served well. That was it. He played a great match.”

Federer’s Swiss sidekick finally stepped into the spotlight, wowing the crowd and stealing much of Murray’s support at Ashe behind a blistering backhand and an old-school attack at the net.

Wawrinka, who is just the third Swiss man to make the semifinals of a major, won 88 percent of his first serve points and never allowed Murray a break point.

“For sure, it’s my moment and I’m enjoying it a lot,” said Wawrinka, referring to his 17-time Grand Slam winning doubles partner. “It’s not because Roger is the same country that I’m not enjoying my career. As I said, I’m really thankful for him because he helped me a lot when I came. But, no, today for sure it’s my moment.”