Tags:Wimbledon|Andy Murray|All England Club
LONDON: British fourth seed Andy Murray booked his place in the Wimbledon semifinals with a 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-2 win over France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Wednesday.
Murray's morale was at a low ebb coming into Wimbledon after he failed to get past the quarterfinals of any tournament since January, but the world number four has rediscovered his best form at the All England Club.
He recovered from the shock of dropping his first set at this year's event to dismiss 10th seed Tsonga in style and reach the last four for a second successive year.
The Scot, beaten by Andy Roddick in the semifinals here 12 months ago, will face French Open champion Rafael Nadal on Friday for a place in the final.
And with Roger Federer surprisingly ousted from the tournament on Wednesday, Murray must be starting to fancy his chances of becoming Britain's first Wimbledon men's singles champion since Fred Perry in 1936.
Murray had won his last 21 matches against French opponents, although the last player from that country to beat him was Tsonga in the first round of the 2008 Australian Open.
Tsonga is one of the most flamboyant and naturally gifted players on the men's tour but the 25-year-old's career has been blighted by injury and inconsistency and once again he flattered to deceive here.
After the drama of Federer's shock defeat against Tomas Berdych, there was nothing for the Centre Court crowd to get excited about until Murray had to save a set-point on his serve at 5-4 down.
The first four points of the subsequent tie-break went against serve, but it was Tsonga who made the decisive move to lead 6-3.
Although Murray held firm on his service points, the Frenchman clinched the tie-break 7-5 with a superb drop volley.
With both men serving well in the second set, another tie-break was the inevitable result and this time it was Murray who came out on top.
He looked in trouble when Tsonga moved 5-4 ahead in the breaker but the Scot levelled immediately and then earned a set point, which he converted as Tsonga's return drifted long.
Murray's roar of triumph underlined the significance of levelling the match at that point.
Tsonga bears a striking resemblance to boxing legend Muhammad Ali, but he was beaten to the punch by Murray again in the third set.
Murray was able to keep Tsonga at bay with his speed and court-coverage and then deliver the counter-attack to take advantage of his opponent's growing frustration.
The decisive moment of the match came when he broke Tsonga to go ahead in the third set by converting his sixth break point of a dramatic game.
With just one more set needed to seal victory, Murray raised his tempo even higher and Tsonga had no answer.
The Scot broke twice in the first four games of the fourth set and finished the match in fine style with a superb winner from the back of the court.
Murray's morale was at a low ebb coming into Wimbledon after he failed to get past the quarterfinals of any tournament since January, but the world number four has rediscovered his best form at the All England Club.
He recovered from the shock of dropping his first set at this year's event to dismiss 10th seed Tsonga in style and reach the last four for a second successive year.
The Scot, beaten by Andy Roddick in the semifinals here 12 months ago, will face French Open champion Rafael Nadal on Friday for a place in the final.
And with Roger Federer surprisingly ousted from the tournament on Wednesday, Murray must be starting to fancy his chances of becoming Britain's first Wimbledon men's singles champion since Fred Perry in 1936.
Murray had won his last 21 matches against French opponents, although the last player from that country to beat him was Tsonga in the first round of the 2008 Australian Open.
Tsonga is one of the most flamboyant and naturally gifted players on the men's tour but the 25-year-old's career has been blighted by injury and inconsistency and once again he flattered to deceive here.
After the drama of Federer's shock defeat against Tomas Berdych, there was nothing for the Centre Court crowd to get excited about until Murray had to save a set-point on his serve at 5-4 down.
The first four points of the subsequent tie-break went against serve, but it was Tsonga who made the decisive move to lead 6-3.
Although Murray held firm on his service points, the Frenchman clinched the tie-break 7-5 with a superb drop volley.
With both men serving well in the second set, another tie-break was the inevitable result and this time it was Murray who came out on top.
He looked in trouble when Tsonga moved 5-4 ahead in the breaker but the Scot levelled immediately and then earned a set point, which he converted as Tsonga's return drifted long.
Murray's roar of triumph underlined the significance of levelling the match at that point.
Tsonga bears a striking resemblance to boxing legend Muhammad Ali, but he was beaten to the punch by Murray again in the third set.
Murray was able to keep Tsonga at bay with his speed and court-coverage and then deliver the counter-attack to take advantage of his opponent's growing frustration.
The decisive moment of the match came when he broke Tsonga to go ahead in the third set by converting his sixth break point of a dramatic game.
With just one more set needed to seal victory, Murray raised his tempo even higher and Tsonga had no answer.
The Scot broke twice in the first four games of the fourth set and finished the match in fine style with a superb winner from the back of the court.
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