Querrey stuns Murray, Federer exacts revenge on Raonic

Federer exacts revenge on Raonic; Djokovic retires hurt; Cilic outlasts Muller

Andy Murray's Wimbledon title defence evaporated on Centre Court in a painful five-set demise to Sam Querrey on Wednesday as the hip injury that has dogged the world number one throughout the tournament finally got the better of him.

Murray's hopes of becoming the first Briton to retain a Grand Slam title since Fred Perry in 1936 were shredded as he hobbled helplessly to a 3-6, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-1 quarterfinal defeat.

The encounter ended in almost brutal fashion, as Murray struggled to move freely around the court in the final two sets and the big-serving Querrey ruthlessly put him to the sword, wrapping up victory with his 27th booming ace.

Roger Federer turned his 100th Wimbledon match into an exhibition as he outclassed Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(4) to reach the semifinals for a record 12th time. The Swiss, who turns 36 next month, played his best tennis of the tournament to dismantle the big-serving Canadian who knocked him out at the semifinal stage last year.

Federer has yet to drop a set in the tournament this year and with Murray, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal all out he is a huge favourite to become the first man to win the Wimbledon title eight times.

Three-time champion Djokovic retired injured during his quarterfinal against Czech Tomas Berdych.The second seed had just lost the opening set 7-6 (2) and was down a break in the second when he walked to the net and shook Berdych's hand, having received a medical timeout. He appeared to be struggling with an arm injury.

Gilles Muller's unlikely Wimbledon run came to an end when he was beaten in five sets by Croatian Marin Cilic. Cilic, who triumphed 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-5, 5-7, 6-1, will now face Querrey in the semifinals.

Querrey can now lay claim to the title of Wimbledon's chief giant-killer, after slaying then champion Djokovic last year. He becomes the first American man to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since Andy Roddick at Wimbledon in 2009.

Having toured the game's most awkward and unconventional opponents in the opening four rounds, Murray finally got to face a more routine tennis archetype. There are few surprises with Querrey's game. He stands at 6 foot 6 inches (1.98 metres) and uses his giant frame to launch bullets from the sky and backs up his huge serve with an occasional haymaker forehand.

His gameplan seemed to involve turning Centre Court into a firing range which brought him little success in the opening set, but as Murray's movement became increasingly pained, the match turned emphatically in the American's favour.

Querrey would have been hard pushed to imagine such a glorious ending as Murray punished him almost at will in the opening set, when it was Murray's serve that did the greater damage and the 29-year-old seemed wracked with nerves.

Murray claimed that in 28 minutes and there was barely a hint of his vulnerability when he broke for a 4-3 lead in the second. There were stunned murmurs of discontent from the home crowd, however, as Querrey broke twice to level the match, wrapping up the second set with a beautiful backhand winner.
That still seemed only a momentary blip for the champion, who broke immediately at the start of the third set to move back into a short-lived ascendancy.

Querrey struck back in the 10th game forcing the set into a tiebreak and while Murray held his nerve to move back into the lead, from that point the writing was on the wall.

The home fans willed their man to scramble freely around the court, but his grimaces told their own story as he looked up to his box and seemed to mouth "it's gone, it's gone" in the fourth set.

Reuters

Results: Men’s singles (quarterfinals): 7-Marin Cilic (Cro) bt 16-Gilles Muller (Lux) 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-5, 5-7, 6-1; 24-Sam Querrey (US) bt 1-Andy Murray (Gbr) 3-6, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-1; 3-Roger Federer (Sui) bt 6-Milos Raonic (Can) 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(4); 11-Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt 2-Novak Djokovic (Srb) 7-6(2), 2-0 (retired).