WIMBLEDON, England — Defending champion Andy Murray, clearly having difficulty moving by the latter stages of the match, was upset by 24th-seeded American Sam Querrey 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-1 in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Wednesday.

“I’m still in a little bit of shock myself,” said Querrey, who ended the match with an ace. “That last point I was just thrilled to get that last serve. I really found a groove in the fourth and fifth sets and everything started falling my way.”

Murray started to have a problem with his hip at the Queen’s Club tournament three weeks ago. He’s characterized the injury as one he’s carried for many years.

The defeat could spell the end of Murray’s reign as No. 1, but the possibility he will drop to No. 2 hinges on whether Novak Djokovic wins the Wimbledon title.

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Murray had never before lost to a player ranked as low as Querrey’s No. 28 at Wimbledon. The previous lowest-ranked player Murray had lost to at this tournament was No. 19 David Nalbandian in the 2005 third round, the year that Murray made his Wimbledon debut.

Querrey is the first American man to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since Andy Roddick was a Wimbledon finalist in 2009.

Querrey is only the second American to reach the final four at a Grand Slam in the last decade. Roddick is the other, which he did at the 2009 Australian Open and Wimbledon.

“This is a dream come true,” Querrey said. “To come through to a semifinal, and for it to happen at Wimbledon, is a thrill.”

This is his first time journeying past a Grand Slam quarterfinal in his career. Last year, after posting his first win over a No. 1 player when he took out Djokovic in the third round here, Querrey reached his first ever Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Murray held a 7-1 winning edge over Querrey in previous matches played, including their past two meetings at the Grand Slams at 2010 Wimbledon and this year’s Australian Open.

Until the loss to Querrey, Murray had won his last 25 matches against American opponents, dating back to a second-round loss to Alex Bogomolov Jr. at the 2011 Miami-1000 tournament.

Querrey will play the winner of the quarterfinal match between seventh seed Marin Cilic of Croatia and 16th seed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in the semifinals.

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