SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER!
 
 
Facebook Social Button Twitter Social Button Follow Us on InstagramYouTube Social Button
NewsScoresRankingsLucky Letcord PodcastShopPro GearPickleballGear Sale


By Chris Oddo | Wednesday July 6, 2016

 
Andy Murray

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga nearly stormed back to shock Andy Murray on Day 9, but the No.2 seed rallied to finish the Frenchman in five.

Photo Source: CameraSport

There was a moment, when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was headed off court for a bathroom break after taking sets three and four of today’s second men’s semifinal on Centre Court, that the Wimbledon men’s singles draw threatened to devolve into chaos.

More: Federer Engineers Thrilling Comeback to Defeata Cilic

Never mind.

Andy Murray dug in and gutted out a soul-quenching five-set victory to restore order at SW19 with a 7-6(10), 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1 victory to book his spot in the Wimbledon semis.

How does it feel to be the nation’s last hope after all the bad stuff that is going on in Great Britain? One daring reporter wanted to know.

“It’s not that bad,” Murray said as the room broke out in laughter. Then he added, with a wry smile: “Hopefully I can win a couple more, and that’s it.”

Murray’s victory, his 51st at Wimbledon, improves the world No.2’s record to 23-7 in five-setters and sets up a clash with Tomas Berdych for a spot in his third final at SW19.

“I was definitely tested a lot today,” Murray told reporters. “It was a really hard match to come through, and it can give you a bit of confidence.”

Murray grabbed the opener in a tiebreaker after failing to protect an early break by saving three set points and finally converting his fourth set point with a backhand volley winner, then rolled out to a 5-0 lead in set two before closing out the set with a forehand winner two games later.

He appeared headed for a straight-sets stroll, but Tsonga surged in the third, breaking early and making it stand up to close to within a set.

In the fourth the Frenchman rallied from 2-4 down, reeling off the final four games to draw level and put the No.2 seed and consensus favorite since the departure of Novak Djokovic on the brink of what would have been a stunning upset.

For 24 straight Grand Slams at least two members of the big four (Federer, Murray, Djokovic and Nadal) have reached the last four at a major, but with Tsonga on fire and Murray reeling the streak, as well as Murray’s hopes for a second Wimbledon title, looked to be in jeopardy.

Not to worry.

After saving a break point in the first game of the decider, Murray took a deep breath and started to force Tsonga into more mistakes. He reeled off the first five games and steered clear of the upset as the cheers reverberated inside the rapidly darkening Centre Court.




“I just really wanted to win and the best way to do that is to fight for every point and give your best effort, that’s what I did today,” Murray said.

Tsonga, who played a large role in his own demise down the stretch by making several loose errors, nudged forward with a hold to get to 5-1, but Murray served out the victory at love, closing the match with his 14th ace to reach his seventh career semifinal at Wimbledon.

“I think there's many things that go into winning matches like that,” Murray told reporters. “It would have been easy to have gotten very down on myself in that fifth set after the way the fourth set ended. I was happy with that.”

Murray and Berdych have met 14 times since 2005, with Murray winning eight, including the last four, but they have never met on grass.

“I'll have to have a look and see some of his matches to get an idea of maybe some of the things he does differently on the grass courts, what his strengths are, maybe some of the things he struggles with a bit,” Murray said. “Ideally, I don't want to have him dictating all of the points because then I'll be doing a lot of running.”

 

Latest News