Sam Querrey sent hobbling defending champion Andy Murray crashing out of Wimbledon on Wednesday, reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final at the 42nd attempt.
One year after knocking out 2015 champion Novak Djokovic in the third round, 29-year-old Querrey, the world No 28, won 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 6-1.
World No 1 Murray’s challenge petered out when he began limping off his right leg, his movement severely compromised by a recent hip problem.
Querrey will face former US Open champion Marin Cilic for a place in the final.
“I’m still in a state of shock. I’m glad I hit that last serve in,” said Querrey who finished with 27 aces and 70 winners.
“I didn’t start the best but I just kept swinging away and found my groove in the last two sets.”
Querrey is the first American man in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick finished runner-up at Wimbledon in 2009.
“It feels great. It’s a dream come true to be in the semi-final at Wimbledon, it’s very special,” Querrey added.
There was no sign of the drama to come at the start of Wednesday’s match.
Murray, 30, was supreme in the first set, carving out the key break for 2-0 and taking the opener on the back of just two unforced errors.
The Scot was a break to the good at 4-3 in the second before Querrey unexpectedly reeled off three straight games to level the quarter-final, firing 16 winners, twice as many as the top seed.
Murray restored his lead after Querrey played a sloppy tiebreak in the third set.
However, the champion’s afternoon on Centre Court began to unravel as his movement became increasingly limited.
Limping badly off his right leg, Murray was being run ragged and was broken three times in a 22-minute fourth set.
The fifth set followed a similar plot line, lasting 27 minutes as Murray won just one point off the American’s serve.
Marin Cilic’s maiden feat
Marin Cilic reached his first Wimbledon semi-final with a 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 victory over Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller on Wednesday.
Cilic had lost in the quarter-finals on his last three visits to Wimbledon, but the former US Open champion finally made it to the last four at the expense of the man who stunned Rafael Nadal in the last-16.
This is the world No 6’s first major semi-final since the 2015 US Open.
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