The expletives may have been imaginary, but Andy Murray�s frustration was real enough.

The expletives may have been imaginary, but Andy Murray's frustration was real enough. The 22-year-old was wronged when he received a code violation from umpire Pascal Maria yesterday for a so-called "audible obscenity" after he uttered the words "Hit the pass" as he chided himself for not making a higher percentage of his passing shots. So narrow and agonising was the margin of this defeat that it would have been more appropriate if Murray had received a medal for not resorting to proper sweary words.

On 10 occasions now British players have been one win from emulating Bunny Austin's 1938 achievement of making it to the final and on 10 occasions they have fallen short. Still no Scot has made it to a men's singles final. Last night Andy Murray became another statistic.

Considering he is the world No.3 and his opponent, Andy Roddick, is ranked three places lower, there is already a depressing inevitability about claims that Murray was suffocated by the pressure. The old Tim Henman argument will be dusted down. If the cap fits, wear it.

But such an analysis would do a as much of a disservice to the man from Dunblane as to the man from Nebraska. An alternative would be to say that when the dust had settled on Centre Court after their match, Murray had gone a round further than last year, a round further than he has ever gone here, only to stumble across a man playing right in form.

Roddick joins Fernando Verdasco and Fernando Gonzalez on the list of men who have halted Murray's progress in the Grand Slams this season while playing at their best. But no-one knows more than Murray that a claim he had been unlucky in that respect would only cut it for so long.

"Unfortunately in the last few slams when I've lost I've come up against guys who have played great, great tennis," he said. "Mentally I've got much better at understanding that guys can do that against you. I need to keep making sure I bring my best game to the court in every match."

Sadly, he didn't do that yesterday. There was the usual sprinkling of magic Murray moments - such as a sublime forehand lob at break point down in an epic service game in the third set, and, eventually, some sparkling cross court passing shots - but at other times the Scot was still too passive. His first serve percentage in the first opening set was a disaster waiting to happen.

Over three hours and seven minutes of tactical, tension-filled tennis, these two men blocked and parried, finding weakness in the other's strengths. Roddick recorded the fastest serve of the tournament at 143 mph but still lost the point. The big-serving American found himself outgunned by 25 to 21 in the ace count. Roddick got 65% of his returns in, while Murray, the arch returner, only managed 64%.

The drop shot, which has to an extent been dropped from the Murray armoury, emerged as a potent weapon for Roddick. Having spent much of the match attempting to draw his opponent to the net, the Scot found out to his horror how competent a volleyer the 26-year-old can be.

Having dropped a stone in weight since hooking up with new coach Larry Stefanki, Roddick cavorted about the court with almost as much abandon as Murray. But, as with all matches at this advanced stage of the tournament, it ultimately came down to big players and how they played the big points. Murray is usually a master of such moments, but his radar was off yesterday. He had nine break points to his opponent's five but could only take two of them.

Perhaps the biggest problem was that, from Roddick's first serve of the match onwards, Murray was always catch-up. Roddick is at his most dangerous in such circumstances, which encourage him to unleash those big forehands with impunity.

Having broken to love in the first game of the second set, the match seemed to shift on its axis when Murray was unable to follow that up when presented with a similar three break points at the start of the third.

"You're probably not going to get out of a 0-40 hole too often against a guy who returns like him," Roddick said. The next turning point arrived in the third-set tie-break when Murray could not capitalise on set point, and the American stole it after coming to the net on eight points out of the 16.

"Murray, Murray, Murray", the crowd chanted as their hero tried to salvage the situation in the fourth set. He didn't look out of the match until the very last point, saving one match point, but then sending one final forehand into the net. The curse of the semi-final continues.