Andy Murray’s Wimbledon defence came to a miserable end in the quarter-finals at the hands of rising star Grigor Dimitrov.

After the high of last year, when he ended Fred Perry’s 77-year reign as the last British man to win the singles title, this was a sad way for the third seed to bow out.

Murray never managed to find anything like his best form while Dimitrov played an inspired match to win 6-1 7-6 (7/4) 6-2 and reach his first grand slam semi-final.

The defeat ended Murray’s 17-match winning streak at the All England Club and was his first slam loss to a player ranked outside the top 10 in four years.

This was the match-up that created excitement when the draw was made — defending champion against tennis’s pin-up boy.

Touted as Baby Federer and one half of the sport’s glamour couple with Maria Sharapova, Dimitrov has been making headlines on the court over the past year.

Tough Australian coach Roger Rasheed has helped the 23-year-old develop the physical side of his game to go with his exceptional racquet skills.

He made a tentative start to his first Wimbledon quarter-final but Murray was unable to take advantage of a break point and he was made to pay in remarkable fashion.

From 1-1, Dimitrov won the final five games of the set, barely missing a ball while a nervy Murray could not find the form that had carried him to the last eight for the loss of only 32 games.

Being behind at Wimbledon was not an unfamiliar position for the Scot, who at the same stage last year trailed Fernando Verdasco by two sets before fighting back to win.

Perhaps the scoreline was not too surprising given their respective seasons — Dimitrov having won three titles, including his triumph at Queen’s two weeks ago, while Murray has not made a final since having back surgery last September.

He has also not beaten a top-10 player since last year’s Wimbledon final victory over Novak Djokovic.

Dimitrov looked so much more confident and he broke for the first time in the second set for 4-3 before taking it 7-6.

Murray has come back from two sets to love to win matches seven times but against a player playing at Dimitrov’s level, it was a seriously tall order to do it again.

The 23-year-old’s defence had been exceptional, more evidence of the improvements made under Rasheed, who Murray came close to hiring in 2011 before opting for Ivan Lendl.

Murray looked a beaten man, and another double fault gave Dimitrov a first match point after exactly two hours.

Murray saved that with one of his best forehands of the match but then netted a forehand to hand Dimitrov an unexpected but thoroughly deserved victory.