The world No.1 suffers defeat in five sets just when it looked as though he was reaching his 12th Slam final.
Stan Wawrinka knocked Andy Murray out of the French Open with his heavyweight hitting in a five-set slugfest.
In a semi-final of high drama and brutal ball-striking, the world No.1 won the first set and then lost seven consecutive games as the Swiss drew level.
Displaying brilliant defensive skills – and fierce determination – the Scot got off the ropes to take the lead again by claiming the epic third set and seemed set to reach his 12th Grand Slam final.
But the classic encounter turned when the world No.3 won the fourth set and he battered the top seed into submission in the decider to win 6-7 6-3 5-7 7-6 6-1 in four hours and 34 minutes.
Murray would have settled for reaching the last four when he arrived in Paris looking for form and fitness but would not have wanted it to end like this despite Wawrinka's brilliance.
The Swiss struck 87 unstoppable winners – and made 77 unforced errors to reach his second final here.
The 2015 champion will meet Rafa Nadal who beat Dominic Thiem in straight sets on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
The repeat of last year's semi-final between Murray and Wawrinka produced a very different result.
The Swiss ace broke first in the opening set with a flashing forehand pass to lead 5-3. But Murray broke straight back after winning an amazing rall with two great lobs. In the tiebreak, the Scot failed to put away a short ball at 5-4 – and French-speaking Wawrinka whipped up the home crowd as he had set point.
But the 2015 champion put a backhand into the net – a Murray set up his first set point with two more defensive lobs. Wawrinka dumped a forehand into the net for his 23rd unforced error and the set was finally over after 71 minutes. It was the first set Wawrinka had dropped in the tournament.
The second set was to be a briefer affair. From 2-3 down, the Swiss battered his way to four consecutive games with the most brutal backhand in the business – and a forehand that does even more damage. And his forehand packs quite a punch too. Anything short on either wing was simply battered away into a corner, The carnage continued into the third set as Wawrinka went 3-0 until Murray finally held – and then three consecutive breaks of serve brought the score back to 4-4. Mixing drop shots with big forehand hits harder than Jelena Ostapenko, the top seed stopped the match running away from him.
And at 5-5, the Scot made his move and set up three break points by returning another Wawrinka smash with so much power that the Swiss could not control his volley. He sealed the break with another great retrieval which Wawrinka could only volley into the net.
There was not even a single break point in a high-quality fourth set. In the tiebreak, Wawrinka dominated and took the first of his three set points by fizzing a forehand return past Murray. After four hours, the math was all square.
Wawrinka struck first in the decider by breaking Murray in the opening game and raced into a 5-0 lead before the Scot avoided his first bagel since his 2015 Australian Open final defeat to Novak Djokovic. But Wawrinka broke Murray for a 10th time with another stunning backhand winner down the line.