NEW YORK — Andy Murray smashed a racket, screamed, sulked.

Dispatched in straight sets by his Swiss opponent after some sloppy play, Murray reverted to the guy whose Grand Slam runs end in dismay.

But once it was all over, everything was different. Murray no longer must answer the questions of when he’ll win a major title.

The defending U.S. Open champ was upset 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 by ninth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarterfinals Thursday, then put it all in perspective.

While Murray insisted he had regained his focus just fine after that historic Wimbledon title two months ago, he acknowledged the mental drain of the last, life-changing 13 months. Simply closing out those final points when he became the first British man in 77 years to win their home Grand Slam tournament. The grueling finals against Novak Djokovic at last year’s U.S. Open — a win for his first major title — and this year’s Australian Open, a loss.

They won’t be getting a rematch in Saturday’s semifinals. The top-ranked Djokovic had a brief blip against 21st-seeded Mikhail Youzhny later Thursday, but he was otherwise in control in a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 victory that set up a semifinal against Wawrinka.

“I start pushing the ball a little bit and wasn’t as maybe confident to take a step forward and go for the shots,” Djokovic said. “That caused some unforced errors and allowed him to come to the court and be more aggressive.”