Sam Querrey dumped the defending Wimbledon champion out for the second year in a row after ending Andy Murray’s title defence in the quarter-finals with a stunning 3-6 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 6-1.
His last defeat came against Alex Bogomolov Jr in the second round of Miami in 2011 but this loss will sting far more.The world No. 28 stunned Novak Djokovic in 2016 in the third round and pulled off a similar trick to end the top seed’s run of 25 Tour-level match wins in a row against American opposition.
Murray’s previous attempt to defend his Wimbledon crown ended in the same stage, as he fell to Grigor Dimitrov in 2014 and Querrey pulled off a similar trick in 2017.
The big-serving American was chasing history of his own – becoming the first man from his country to reach the last-four of a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick made the final here in 2009, some eight years ago.
And he was good value for his win after refusing to give in against a below-par Murray – who lost his fourth-consecutive five-set match.
Murray got off to the perfect start, holding to love before breaking the American, who was misfiring somewhat in the early stages, in his opening service game.
That break proved to be all the Brit needed to wrap up the first set in just 28 minutes.
It was the Scot who struck first in the second too, breaking for a 4-3 lead but it was Querrey who levelled the match, stepping up out of nowhere to reel off three games in a row and take the second 6-4.
Murray hit back quickly at the start of the third, breaking on his way to a 2-0 advantage, much to the delight of the Centre Court crowd.
But again, Querrey – who is well-suited to a grass court – hit back, this time when Murray was serving for the set, and forced a tiebreak.
A horrible smash into the net from the world No. 28 was the stuff of nightmares as Murray stormed to a 6-1 lead before eventually moving two sets to one up.
But Querrey was not done yet. The 29-year-old broke early in the third and found himself a double-break up at 4-1 just after the two-hour mark.
For Murray, things only got worse. Querrey levelled the match once more and extended his run of games reeled off in a row to nine as he broke for a 3-0 lead in the decider.
Murray did stop the rot in terms of games lost but it wasn’t enough and the American emerged triumphant.