Andy Murray loses to Stan Wawrinka in French Open semi-final after memorable five-set thriller

Murray was within four points of victory in the tie-break at the end of the fourth set but Wawrinka held firm to level and then win a pulsating match

Andy Murray toiled for four hours and 34 minutes but was ultimately beaten (Getty)

Andy Murray’s French Open is over but the world No 1 should console himself with the fact that he went out of Roland Garros only after a semi-final that will live long in the memory. Stan Wawrinka, who had lost to Murray at the same stage 12 months earlier, beat the Scot 6-7, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6, 6-1 after four hours and 34 minutes in the best match of the tournament for far.

Murray was within four points of victory in the tie-break at the end of the fourth set, but Wawrinka, the ultimate strong man of tennis, held firm and won a final set in which the scoreline did not do justice to a contest that had been desperately tight for the first four hours.

Despite the disappointment of failing to reach his 12th Grand Slam final, Murray could be more than satisfied with his achievements given that he had arrived here with major doubts about his health and his form. He has put behind him the difficulties of the first five months of this year and will head into the grass-court season with his confidence renewed. Wimbledon starts in little more than three weeks’ time.

“I'm proud of the tournament I had,” Murray said afterwards. “I was one tie-break away from getting to the final after I had come [into the tournament] really struggling.

“Maybe the lack of matches hurt me a little bit in the end today. That was a very high-intensity match, with a lot of long points. When you haven’t been playing loads, that can catch up with you a little bit over four and a half hours. I only have myself to blame for that, for the way I played coming into the tournament, but I turned my form around really, really well.”

Asked how close he thought he was to playing his best tennis again, Murray said: “I played pretty well these last few matches. Even when you’re playing well, you’re not going to win every match you play, but I put myself in a position to reach a Slam final, so I’m obviously playing pretty good. I played some good stuff here. How close that is to my tennis from last year, I don’t know, but hopefully it gives me a good base to go into the grass-court season.”

Wawrinka, meanwhile, will aim to win his fourth Grand Slam title in as many years and his second here following his triumph of 2015. At 32, he will be the oldest finalist at Roland Garros since 33-year-old Niki Pilic was runner-up in 1973.

His opponent on Sunday will be Rafael Nadal, who extended his remarkable run of form to beat Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-4, 6-0. Nadal, who has dropped only 29 games in his six matches, will be chasing his first Grand Slam title since he won here for the ninth time three years ago.

The quality of the tennis in the first semi-final was exceptional. Nobody can hit the ball with the same consistent power as Wawrinka, particularly on a clay court, while Murray’s defensive and creative powers are unmatched.

Wawrinka's forehands were hit with brute force (Getty)

Wawrinka strikes his forehands with sheer brute force, while his single-handed backhand is one of the most majestic shots in tennis. While Murray could not match the world No 3’s weight of shot, he defended with all his usual athletic brilliance, attacked when he had the opportunity and mixed his game up with a characteristically creative mix of spins, drop shots and variations of pace.

The final statistics told their own story of a classic confrontation between attack and defence. Wawrinka hit 87 winners and 77 unforced errors, compared with Murray’s respective figures of 36 and 36.

Murray was generally pleased with his performance with one proviso. “I feel my net game was really poor today," he said. "That hurt me on a few occasions and some important moments. I didn't approach well and didn't play well up at the net, which against Stan is very important. He's a very powerful guy, so when you come forward you need to be sharp up there. I missed a few too many points up at the net.”

The temperature was a refreshing 19C on another day of bright sunshine as the players walked out on to Court Philippe Chatrier. From the start it was clear that the crowd were behind Wawrinka. In the continuing absence of a male French champion - it is 34 years since Yannick Noah won the title here – the locals have latched on to a French speaker who was a particularly popular winner here two years ago.

Murray was forced to hang on at times (Getty)

The pattern of the match was established in the first two games. Wawrinka held serve to love with an ace, an unreturned serve and two winners; Murray held to 15 thanks largely to three Wawrinka errors.

Wawrinka, attacking from the start, drew first blood in the eighth game, breaking with a forehand cross-court pass winner to punish Murray’s tentative approach, but the Scot responded immediately, his brilliant defensive work repeatedly forcing Wawrinka to hit the extra ball.

Nine of the first 12 points of the opening tie-break went against serve. Wawrinka netted a backhand when he had a set point at 6-6, after which it was Murray’s turn to go to set point after a stunning corner-to-corner lob. The Scot converted it when Wawrinka netted a return of serve.

At 3-3 in the second set Murray was broken to love and four games later he was broken again as Wawrinka ran around a serve to hit a sledgehammer forehand return winner to take the set. By the time the Swiss led 3-0 in the third set he had won seven games in a row, but Murray fought his way back into contention.

By now the rallies were getting longer and the hitting increasingly ferocious, with the tempo interrupted only by Murray’s increasing use of the drop shot. The crowd broke into prolonged applause and cheering after one wonderful point which ended with Wawrinka netting a volley after Murray had kept himself in contention with some breath-taking defence.

Wawrinka broke again to go 4-2 up, Murray hitting a backhand wide after slipping as he defended a fourth break point in the game, only for the Scot to break back immediately. This time it was Wawrinka’s turn to defend stoutly, but Murray hit a thumping backhand cross-court winner on his third break point.

Wawrinka claimed the fifth and final set (Getty)

At 5-5 Wawrinka went 0-40 down when Murray enticed him into a volley error by returning a smash with interest and at 15-40 the Scot’s running sliced backhand down the line brought another missed volley. Murray served out for the set as the clocked ticked past three hours.

The standards did not drop in a compelling fourth set, in which there were no breaks of serve. It ended in a tie-break in which Wawrinka never trailed. Murray was within four points of victory when he trailed 4-3, but Wawrinka went for broke on the next three points and took the set in typical fashion, running round Murray’s serve to thump a huge forehand return winner down the line.

The final set took just 30 minutes. Wawrinka broke serve in the opening game and raced into a 5-0 lead before Murray finally got on the board by breaking serve. At 1-5, however, the Scot was broken again, Wawrinka completing the job with a thunderous backhand winner. It had been some contest.