Andy Murray’s dream of securing a maiden French Open crown came to a premature end as Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka won in five sets in the semi-finals at Roland Garros.
Murray lost an enthralling encounter 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 5-7 7-6 (7-3) 6-1, despite taking the first and third set to force himself into a 2-1 lead.
However, he lost a fourth set tie-break, and Wawrinka gathered strength for the decider, which he comfortably took 6-1.
The two met at the same stage of the tournament last year, with Murray emerging victorious on that occasion before losing in the final to Novak Djokovic.
However, it is Wawrinka who will be challenging for the title this time around after securing the win, despite Murray nearly repeating last year’s feat.
But the Brit remained philosophical in the wake of another semi-final exit at Roland Garros.
"It was not like I was far away from winning the match," said Murray.
"I was close to finishing it in the fourth set. There are a few things that I for sure feel I could do better, I would have liked to have done a bit differently.
“I'm proud of the tournament I had. 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.
“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.” Sportsbeat 2017