Tearful Murray makes history to reach Wimbledon final
Tearful Murray makes history to reach Wimbledon final
Andy
Murray became the first British man for 74 years to reach a Wimbledon final with an astonishing 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-5 win over Frenchman Jo-Wilfried
Tsonga in a semi-final of high tension and emotion at the All-England
Club.
Murray was consumed with a mixture of relief and
emotion after seeing a ball from a forehand return hit the line to break
Tsonga in the 12th game of a brutal fourth set having brought up two
break points.
"It was such a close match in the end, both of us had chances," said Murray.
"I started well, had one loose game on my serve at the beginning of the third set and he came back into it.
"It was tough to lose that set - I tried to stay calm but it's not
easy. There's a lot of pressure when you're on the court, but you've
just got to focus.
"I did well to hang in because he started to play really well."
The ball was initially called out, but Murray challenged the call and
replays showed the ball was in to the delight of thousands of British
fans on Centre Court and those watching on the large screens outside the
showpiece court.
The Scot - 25 from Dunblane in Perthshire - will attempt to become
the first British winner of the tournament since Fred Perry in 1936. He
will chase his first Grand Slam title against the 16-times Grand Slam
winner Roger Federer, who was mightily impressive in defeating defending
champion Novak Djokovic in four sets earlier in the day.
Bunny Austin was the last British man to reach a Wimbledon final in
1938, but Murray will have to steel himself emotionally and mentally for
the occasion after almost breaking down when he realised the magnitude
of what he had just achieved.
He again pointed to the heavens as he has done over the past few
weeks in victory, but may need more than divine intervention to unsettle
Federer, a man bidding for a seventh Wimbledon title and a return to
world number one.
Murray has appeared in three Grand Slam finals. He lost to Federer in
the 2008 US Open and the 2010 Australian Open with Djokovic overcoming
him in last year's Australian Open final. He has yet to win a set in a
Grand Slam final.
There have been 11 failed attempts in 74 years to reach the final by
British player, but all have come up short. Having lost to Andy Roddick
and Rafael Nadal twice since 2009, Murray was a warm favourite to
account for the world number six who had reached the Australian Open
final in 2008 as an unseeded player.
He carried a 5-1 lead over Tsonga into the match from their previous
meetings, and looked on course for a routine passage to the final as he
wrapped up the opening two sets in one hour and 10 minutes.
He recovered from trailing 30-0 in the second game of the first set
to make the decisive break with a couple of intelligent groundstroke.
Tsonga had two break points in the fifth game of the day to break
back, but Murray held himself together wonderfully well to stave off the
threat aided by a couple of aces late in the game. He oversaw a
collection of nine aces in the match.
With Murray encountering few problems on serve and Tsonga appearing
tight and sluggish, Murray moved further ahead when he broke for a 3-2
lead in the second set with his opponent's game apparently in some sort
of disarray
By the time it reached 5-3, Murray had won 15 straight points on
serve with Tsonga winning a pitiful 10 per cent of points on serve.
Tsonga apparently departed the scene for some treatment to a back
problem at the outset of the third set. His disappearance seemed to
affect Murray, who threw in a slipshod service game in being broken to
love to trail 2-0.
It would be a lapse in concentration that would cost him the set with
both men failing to break again at 3-0 and 3-1. Tsonga would eventually
quell Murray resistance by serving out the set despite falling 30-15
behind after Murray smashed the ball between his legs in the ninth game.
With the tension palpable, the Centre Court onlookers remained
mysteriously subdued. Tsonga had suddenly awoken from his slumber with
the pace of his forehand from deep suddenly threatening to undermine
Murray.
Murray seemed on the right track when he applied the dagger to break
for a 3-1 lead in the fourth set only to watch Tsonga respond as a
delightful half volley and crushing return forced the set back on serve.
An incredible Tsonga drive down the line saw Murray dive and nudge
the ball out of play after he had been lobbed as two break points eluded
Murray, who would do likewise in the ninth game with Tsonga also
faltering in the key moments.
The match seemed descended for a tie-break with wrong calls by the
umpire, double faults and challenges only adding to the tension until Murray forced Tsonga to dump a volley into the net to lead 40-15.
Seconds later, he was into the final.
