Milos Raonic's best just wasn't good enough against Olympic champion Andy Murray.
The native of Thornhill, Ont., lost to Murray 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 on Monday in the fourth round of the U.S. Open.
"It was a tough match, he was just too good," said Raonic. "I was never comfortable and he played extremely well. This was a big loss, I really gave everything out there and I've never felt such a defeat."
Murray, still seeking his first Grand Slam title, reached the quarter-finals at an eighth consecutive major tournament by beating the 15th-seeded Raonic.
Raonic was trying to become the first Canadian man in a Grand Slam quarter-final in the Open era, which began in 1968.
Canadian women remain the only players to have gone to the last eight in a Grand Slam, most recently through Patricia Hy-Boulais at the 1992 U.S. Open.
Raonic reached this stage at a major for the second time after getting to the last 16 from a qualifying start at the Australian Open last year.
"This was my eighth Grand Slam and I'm pretty new to this," said Raonic. "I've only played here twice. Sometimes I get frustrated with myself."
Raonic is the third Canadian to reach the round of 16 at a Grand Slam in the Open era, after Montreal's Martin Laurendeau at the 1988 US Open and Toronto's Daniel Nestor at Wimbledon in 1999.
He stands 1-7 against top five opponents, with his only win coming against Murray on clay in Barcelona last spring.
"I need to improve a lot of things in my game if I'm going to compete with guys at the top level," said Raonic. "But I also want to learn as much as I can. Every experience at this level is a new one. I have to deal with them the best I can."
Despite his disappointment, Raonic will rise to an ATP ranking of around 14th next Monday.
Raonic never got a break point on the Murray serve and managed only 14 aces - about half his average at the event in the first three rounds. He converted on three of 11 break points and lost his own serve four times in a disappointing evening.
"I felt like I was doing it well most of the time, except maybe a few shots I didn't go for as much in the beginning just because I didn't know how to really read it," said Raonic.
The match was moved to an earlier start because of rain clouds moving into the area, but the contest concluded without interruption.
"It's tough in there [Arthur Ashe Stadium], it's something I haven't really experienced," said Raonic. "It's windy constantly and coming from all different directions. So it was hard to really just step in on the ball."
Murray played smart tennis to nullify Raonic's huge serve, using his returning skills to dominate.
The third-seeded Murray created his first chances in the eighth game of the opening set, forcing Raonic to save two break points before finally dropping serve for 3-5.
"I hit my passing shots well, which was an important part," said Murray, who is gunning for his first grand slam title.
"He was hitting a lot of big serves and I was just trying to react the best I could. Sometimes you get a racket on it and sometimes you don't. Tonight I was getting my racket on it."
