Kei Nishikori's hopes of becoming the first Japanese man to reach the French Open semifinals in 84 years were dashed on Wednesday, when he was knocked out by world No. 1 Andy Murray.

Nishikori, ranked ninth in the world, took the first set but Murray fought back to win 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(0), 6-1 and book a semifinal match against Stan Wawrinka.

Had he upset Murray, the 27-year-old Nishikori would have been the first Japanese man to advance to the semifinals here since Jiro Sato in 1933.

"If I had stayed focused and played aggressively then the complexion of the match would have changed," said Nishikori.

Nishikori had Murray on the back foot for the first half hour, attacking at the net at every opportunity, but Murray came back in the second set, reeling off four consecutive games to level the tie as the Japanese lost steam.

In the third set, Nishikori dumped a backhand into the net, allowing Murray to break at 5-5, but rebounded to force a tie-break.

Murray, though, controlled the tie-break, not yielding a single point to take a two-sets-to-one lead. He went on to coast through the fourth to book a trip to the semifinals.

Nishikori said the flow of the match changed when he dropped serve in the fourth game of the second set.

"I started to get flustered. My opponent was improving but (the loss) was my fault," said Nishikori.

"I continued to make simple mistakes (in the tie break in the third set) and went down 0-3 and things started to get negative from there."

"I was wasteful and that is what frustrates me the most."

Murray's semifinal will be a rematch of a last-four match-up last year, in which Murray dismissed the 2015 titlist Wawrinka in four sets.

"When we played last year, it was similar situation coming in. I think Stan had played really well coming into the match. I had struggled in some of my matches during the event last year, but I played one of my best clay-court matches that day to get the win," Murray told atpworldtour.com.

"It's going to be very tough. But I can learn some things from last year. I'm sure he will, as well, and will try to change some things. Should be an interesting match."

Of his match against Nishikori, Murray said he felt he had not been at his best.

"I didn't feel like I played great tennis today," he said. "It's a huge step in the right direction for me. Anyone can win matches when they are playing well. It's winning when you're not playing your best that is more impressive."