New York, Sep 8 (IANS): World No. 3 and third seed Andy Murray suffered his earliest Grand Slam exit for five years as he lost a gruelling fourth-round contest against 15th seed Kevin Anderson in the US Open here on Tuesday.

South Africa's Anderson won 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-0) in four hours and 18 minutes to reach his first major quarter-final.

It is the first time since the 2010 US Open that Murray has lost before the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam.

Anderson was broken early in the third set before losing it on a tie-break, before coming back with an assured performance in the fourth set.

Anderson played aggressively and took chances, pouring 25 aces past a helpless Murray, who was denied a 20th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final run.

He hit 81 winners during the match against Murray's 49, and rushed the net 58 times versus 24 approaches for Murray.

On the other hand, Swiss ace Stan Wawrinka took four sets to cruise past American Donald Young.

Anderson will next face Wawrinka in an intriguing quarter-final match.