Andy Murray admitted he was left helpless by Fernando Gonzalez's booming forehand during his loss to the Chilean.
Murray was bidding to become only the second British man in the Open era, after Tim Henman, to reach the last four at Roland Garros but he ran out of steam, 12th seed Gonzalez powering his way to a 6-3 3-6 6-0 6-4 win today.
The naturally-attacking Gonzalez can blow hot and cold but today was one of his better days. He hit 45 winners to steamroller the third seed on a sun-kissed Philippe Chatrier court.
Murray held his hands up, acknowledging the man who he claims has the biggest forehand in tennis deserved the victory.
"No-one's hit the ball that big. If that happens, sometimes you've got to say, 'too good'," the Scot said.
"If you look at some of the shots he's hit, he's hitting forehands from a metre wide of the tramlines on some points - and hitting winners off them.
"Even if you try to hit a ball to his backhand, he runs around and spanks a winner. You can't do a whole lot about that."
Gonzalez, a boys' singles winner here in 1998, admitted everything went right today.
"I was playing at a really high level. I took every chance that he gave me," the 28-year-old said.
"I managed to win the third set very easily and that gave me a lot of confidence for the rest of the match.
"On the attack, I always try to hit and have no fear. I just go for it. I have great pleasure hitting the ball hard.
"Some days I can miss but I know that if I have to win a big match, I have to perform on that (forehand) side."
If Gonzalez - a winner of eight clay-court tournaments so far in his career - continues to find his range with his forehand, he will be difficult to beat.
But then so will 23rd seed Robin Soderling, the Chilean's opponent in the semi-finals.
The Swede, who dumped out top seed and reigning champion Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, continued his amazing Roland Garros journey by sweeping aside previously in-form 10th seed Nikolay Davydenko.
Soderling won 6-1 6-3 6-1 in an hour and 41 minutes on Suzanne Lenglen court.
"I have to say it was a little tougher than the score suggests," said the 24-year-old, who has also beaten 14th seed David Ferrer this tournament.
"I always knew I could play really, really good tennis when I'm on top of my game. I just needed to tell myself not to lose concentration."
Soderling also revealed he had received a congratulatory text off compatriot Bjorn Borg after his win over Nadal, who last year equalled the legendary Swede's record of four straight Roland Garros titles.
"He said, 'Congratulations, and thank you for not letting Nadal break my record'. I think he will be down here tomorrow," Soderling added.
"It was very big for me to receive a text from him. The funny thing is, I also got a lot of texts from people I don't even know!"
It was a disappointing way for Davydenko to celebrate his 28th birthday.
The Russian, formidable against eighth seed Fernando Verdasco in round four, was understandably unhappy to have picked up only five games in three sets against an opponent he would have been expected to overcome at the start of the tournament.
"I didn't have my best game and that's surprising," he said.
"Maybe his tennis is too fast for me. He had very good control from the baseline."
Davydenko denied he had got ahead of himself and contemplated a place in the final.
"I was not thinking about the semi-final or final," he said. "Okay, it was not Nadal or (Novak) Djokovic I was playing, but Soderling played well."
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