WHAT was billed as an opening-day classic between two old warriors turned into a damp squib as Stan Wawrinka crushed Andy Murray 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 at the French Open on Sunday.

The last time they met on Court Philippe Chatrier, in the 2017 semifinal, Wawrinka came through a five-set slugfest but this time it proved a painfully one-sided affair as Murray suffered his equal worst Grand Slam beating.

The six games collected by Murray equaled the fewest he has managed in any of his 237 career Grand Slam matches; that also happened in a loss at Roland Garros in 2014 against 12-time champion Rafael Nadal.

“I’ll need to have a long, hard think,” said Murray, ranked 111th as he works his way back from two hip surgeries, “and try and understand what happened.”

One big problem: He didn’t serve well, putting only 36 percent of his first serves in play.

Another: He didn’t return particularly well either and won only 25 percent of points in Wawrinka’s service games.

Murray said those things weren’t related to his artificial hip.

“It’s going to be difficult for me to play the same level as I did before. I mean, I’m 33 now and I was ranked No. 1 in the world, so it’s difficult with all the issues that I have had,” Murray said. “But, yeah, I’ll keep going. Let’s see what the next few months holds, and I reckon I won’t play a match like that between now and the end of the year.”

This was the first time two men with Grand Slam titles — Murray and Wawrinka each own three such trophies — played each other in the first round at Roland Garros since Yevgeny Kafelnikov against Michael Chang in 1999, and at any major tournament since Novak Djokovic faced Juan Carlos Ferrero at Wimbledon in 2012.(SD-Agencies)