THE king of New York has been dethroned.

Andy Murray insisted he felt no different in his attempt to try to defend a grand slam title for the first time but something changes in the psyche of the opponent and, in quite devastating fashion, Stanislas Wawrinka performed out of his skin to reach his first major semi-final.

Murray was hunted. Wawrinka chased him down and refused to let him go before the final kill was administered.

It was impossible to begrudge the Swiss his moment. Attacking from the off and mixing his game up to perfection, the world No.10 was all over the Scot, and the resounding 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 triumph was as emphatic as it reads.

Even at two sets down we waited for the Murray magic to show, but it never came. Wawrinka was too on his game, Murray unable to exert any pressure. The fact the Scot failed to muster any break points said it all.

Victory would have put another historic notch in his racket, eclipsing Fred Perry's record of the 13 appearances by a British player in grand slam semi-finals. That went abegging, along with the hope that Murray would add another major title during a scintillating 12 months.

Sitting in the post-match press conference with the darkest of demeanours, the 26-year-old took a brief swipe at the often unfathomable scheduling at Flushing Meadows which had him kicking his heels for almost three days before finally going onto court.

Yet that was barely an excuse. Wawrinka produced a devastating display akin to the one three years ago which similarly had Murray on his knees. Last night he produced the form of his life and the Scot was simply unable to cope.

"I thought he played great," acknowledged Murray. "The beginning was the hardest part of the match. The 5-4 game in the first set was an important game. I had a chance to close it out; he had quite a few chances. I made a few mistakes. For the most part I didn't create break-point chance, so he served well. He hit a lot of lines, was going for big shots, and he played too well."

As for the way the United States Tennis Association handled his scheduling, Murray's face said it all. "I don't really want to get into that," he continued. "You guys can see for yourselves how the schedule worked out. Yeah, when you play the first round over three days, it's tough."

While Murray had not been required to hit top gear here over the last week-and-a-half, it was expected a higher calibre opponent, the in-form Wawrinka, would bring it out of him. But the Scot, just like against Denis Istomin in the previous round, spluttered out of the blocks and quickly realised the same could not be said of Wawrinka.

The first set - and that 10th game in particular was key. An amazing five break points went begging on the Murray serve before Wawrinka finally managed to convert, albeit from a wild forehand from the world No.3.

The reaction of Murray said it all, his racket being smashed on the concrete court. It smacked of a man in real trouble.

As the Scot fumed, the challenge for Wawrinka was to show he could muster the mental strength to go for the jugular. The Swiss has long been accused of lacking the mental strength required to mix with the very best. That was put to bed here last night.

The magical moments continued to flow from his end, a beautiful whipped forehand at 5-2, 0-15 on the Murray serve earning howls of applause from a crowd sensing a real upset. With 97 minutes on the clock, Wawrinka was, deservedly, two sets to the good.

Another break, thanks to Murray's fifth double fault, had the Swiss up in the third. The Scot had a disconsolate look in his eyes. Nothing was working; he was struggling - or simply unable - could not rewrite the script.

Wawrinka consistently kept Murray on the back foot, allowing him absolutely nothing to feed off. It was hard to keep count of the wayward forehands coming from the Scot's racket.

Serving for the match at 5-2, the Swiss, in a flash, was 40-30 up. A forehand return was slapped against the net and that was it. It had taken two hours and 15 minutes to end Murray's dream.He now knows just what trying to defend a major title is all about.

"When you work hard for something for a lot of years, it's going to take a bit of time to really fire yourself up and get yourself training 110%, " conceded the Scot. "That's something that I think is kind of natural after what happened at Wimbledon. But I got here. I mean, I have been here nearly three weeks now. I practised a lot, and played quite a lot of matches as well. So I gave myself a chance to do well because I prepared properly.

"If I'm meant to win every grand slam I play or be in the final, it's just very, very difficult just now. With the guys around us, it's very challenging. I have played my best tennis in the slams the last two, three years. I lost today in straight sets, so that's disappointing. I would have liked to have gone further.

"But, look, I can't complain. If someone told me before the US Open last year I would have been here as defending champion having won Wimbledon and Olympic gold, I would have taken that 100%.

"So I'm disappointed, but, you know, the year as a whole has been a good one."

Yet there was a lingering sense that it could have been even more magical. The problem lies in the fact that the bar has been set so high so when it comes crashing down, it thuds harder than ever."