Thu, July 05, 2012
Brick by brick, Andy Murray chiseled his way through a Spanish wall to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals while Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic simply demolished outclassed opponents on Wednesday to set up a mouth-watering first meeting on grass。
Murray endured an afternoon of hard labor against David Ferrer, eventually edging a step closer to becoming Britain's first male singles finalist at the grasscourt slam since 1938 with a grinding 6-7 7-6 6-4 7-6 victory。
The fourth seed, who hit back impressively after being a point away from a two-set deficit, has the added bonus of not having to face Rafa Nadal in the semi-finals。
With the twice former champion long since departed it will be the imposing frame of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga standing in his way after the Frenchman beat German Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6 4-6 7-6 6-2.
Before Murray's energy-sapping win over seventh seed Ferrer, Federer treated Britain's Prince William, his wife Kate, and a host of former greats such as Andre Agassi and Rod Laver, to a vintage display of shot-making to thrash Mikhail Youzhny。
More of a procession than a tennis match, a supreme Federer, bathed in rare shafts of sunshine, won 6-1 6-2 6-2 to record a 14th win in 14 meetings against the unfortunate Russian. Not even some words of comfort from the Royal Box could save Youzhny。
"I asked Andre (Agassi) what I should do," said the hapless Youzhny who must have been tempted to scratch the word "help" into the hallowed turf having etched "sorry" into the French Open clay during a beating by Ferrer last month。
Defending champion Djokovic had a few anxious moments against Florian Mayer, the second German in the last eight, as he reacquainted himself with outdoor tennis after playing his three previous matches under Centre Court's roof。
(Agencies)
