The percentage of first serves Murray got in play dropped from 68 in the first set to 56 in the second set, and all the way down to 39 in the fourth set.
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Meanwhile double Grand Slam victor Stan Wawrinka set up a marquee quarterfinal showdown with 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro with a 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victory over Illya Marchenko of Ukraine. He started returning a bit better. The number six seed won his first service game too.
After winning the opening set in just 37 minutes, Murray’s hopes of clinching a quick triumph were dashed by the rain which curtailed play at 3-3 in the second set.
World number two Murray looked to be in control at two sets to one ahead and had carved out a break point in the third game of the fourth when a loud sound burst out.
Kei Nishikori was proud of his grittiness and felt a rain delay helped him overcome Andy Murray in the US Open quarter-finals.
Murray said afterwards that the speaker incident had affected him in the two games immediately afterwards but did not blame it for the way he continued to lose games in that part of the match.
But he won’t under-estimate the threat posed by Nishikori, who made the final in NY in 2014 having knocked out Djokovic in the semi-finals.
“Stopped the point, and I was just curious why that was and that was it”, said a downbeat Murray, who came in quickly after the defeat to speak to the media.
But Nishikori wasn’t to be denied this time as Murray dumped a routine backhand in to the net and sparked Japanese celebrations. The world No 7 is a 2014 US Open finalist when he lost in straight sets to Marin Cilic but that year he beat Wawrinka and Djokovic to get to the finals so Queens has been very good to him in the past.
But Murray is playing about as well as possible lately, reaching the final at each of his last seven tournaments prior to the US Open. Nishikori pounced to break and then served out the win on his second serve point.
NEW YORK, Sept 7 Kei Nishikori is calm and quiet on court and a paragon of sportsmanship, but the Japanese enjoyed taking revenge against Andy Murray at the U.S. Open on Wednesday.
There was another exchange of breaks at the start of the third, and also rackets, as both players asked for a re-string to accommodate the indoor conditions.
Nishikori will play Stan Wawrinka or Juan Martin del Potro in the last four with Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils contesting the other semi-final.
The Scot reached the quarterfinal with a brutal dismissal of Grigor Dimitrov, where he lost just five games.
Now, though, Murray has a chance to become only the fourth man in the Open era to reach all four grand slam finals in a single season. Murray beat Nishikori in the semi-finals at the Rio Games last month.
The phantom noise emerged again later in the set and Murray s mood was not helped when a startled butterfly flew around the court, causing great merriment when it obstinately clung to the net.
Murray began his streak as he often does, by making his opponent play one more ball.
“On Sunday night I tried to get in bed early and I slept for 12 hours straight”.
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World number one Djokovic, the champion in NY in 2011 and 2015, has hardly broken sweat in the first four rounds. Nishikori broke back straight away via a superb backhand passing victor as the quarter-final took another unlikely twist. “It was tough but in the end it was great tennis, so very happy”.
