Wimbledon: Andy Murray reaches semi-finals in front of audience of champions

IN FRONT of a host of great champions, Andy Murray has taken another step to becoming one with a victory over David Ferrer in four sets, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 7-6. For the fourth successive year, the Scot stands just a match away from the Wimbledon final, where either Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer will lie in wait.

But there is much to be reckoned with first. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is his most immediate worry, although dramatically increasing the burden of expectation on his shoulders is a head-to-head record which reads five matches to one in the Scot’s favour.

He has failed on the three previous occasions to make the great leap forward, but last week’s surprise defeat for Rafael Nadal, who he had been due to meet at the semi-final stage had the seeding system gone to plan, has worked in his favour. “I have had a good run in the last few years, but I am not satisfied with that,” Murray said earlier tonight. “I want to go further.”

He knows he will rarely have a better chance of becoming the first British player since Bunny Austin in 1938 to reach a men’s singles final at Wimbledon. Andre Agassi and his wife Steffi Graf stayed the course, intoxicated by the drama. Rod Laver and Billie Jean King also looked on, while the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge left their seats in the Royal Box after three games of the fourth set and before a rain-break had threatened to disrupt Murray’s rhythm.

He had already manoeuvred himself into a position of strength, and returned to finish the job after three hours and 52 minutes on court. Has has now made it through to a tenth Grand Slam semi-final. “Having played Jo quite a lot of times, I know him well,” said Murray, who first encountered the 27-year-old in the juniors. “Rather than focusing on it being the semi-finals at Wimbledon, I need to focus on it being a match against him and what I do well against him, and what’s worked in the past. That’s what I will be drawing on.”

Tonight he was getting set to return to what he termed was his own “bubble”, one where he makes sure he doesn’t “read the newspapers and watch the stuff on TV about you”. Outside, however, Murraymania is intensifying again.

Today’s victory wasn’t straightforward. It rarely is with Murray, who lost seven of the first eight points contested. He rallied from 15-40 down in his first service game but was broken in his next one.

However, Murray secured a break of serve of his own in the ninth game. When the next three games went with serve it meant the first of three tie-breaks. Ferrer drew first blood, winning it 7-5. The Spaniard took control of the second set too, after a break of serve which saw him take a 5-4 lead. However, Murray responded by breaking back immediately, in what was a pivotal game of the tie.

As in each of the previous four rounds, Murray got better and better as the game wore on, negotiating yet another rain-break with great composure. He did, however, admit it had been a bit uneasy in the locker room, where Ferrer was also receiving a massage from his physio as the players waited for the green light to go on again.

Few sports throw up such instances, where the competitors are required to spend time with one another before resuming their intense battle. Great friends though they are off court, Murray found the situation unsettling.

“I went for a shower, threw some cold water on my face, saw my physio, got stretched,” said Murray, before admitting: “It was a weird atmosphere, David was just a bed away. It was a weird, tense atmosphere. It was a huge match for both of us. At that moment, it was so close.”

Murray was the last to qualify for the last four on a day which ended with a nerve-shredding battle following more routine wins for Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, against Florian Mayer and Mikhail Youzhny respectively.

Tonga had a tougher time against Philipp Kohlschreiber, but won through to a second successive Wimbledon semi-final in four sets.

Murray’s match with Ferrer had the hallmarks of a Wimbledon classic. It swung first in Ferrer’s favour, after the Spaniard took the first set in a tie-break, but Murray eventually coped better with the windy conditions. “I did a pretty good job,” he said. “He doesn’t give you a whole lot of time to breathe on the court.”

Centre Court had seemed half empty when these always watchable players had started their epic contest. But as the struggle developed, ticket holders were drawn back to their seats, including the royal couple. Asked about their presence, Murray said: “Obviously I was aware of it. We got told this morning before we went on the court, and obviously when I saw Roger playing I saw them sitting in the Royal Box.

“I think it is always going to make a difference when you have royalty there,” he added. “For me, also playing in front of someone like Agassi as well, and Steffi Graf. Rod Laver was there, too. It is an unbelievable privilege to play in front of those people.”

l For the first time in the open era William Hill go odds on that there will be a British player in the final of Wimbledon and it is 9/2 that Murray lifts the trophy on Sunday night. Murray is 1/2 to beat Tsonga, with Djokovic expected to join him in the final at 2/5.

“Murray has the best of the semi-finals and the odds suggest we are in for a British player in the final,” said Hill’s spokesman Rupert Adams.

ALAN PATTULLO