Switzerland's Roger Federer celebrates winning his match against Croatia's Marin Cilic.
Image by: TONY O'BRIEN / REUTERS
Image by: TONY O'BRIEN / REUTERS
Roger Federer and Andy Murray showed their never-say-die spirit as the Wimbledon title rivals battled into the semifinals yesterday.
Federer saved three match points in a 6-7 (4/7), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (11/9), 6-3 victory over Croatian ninth seed Marin Cilic as the world No 3 reached a record-equalling 11th semifinal.
Federer will play Canadian sixth seed Milos Raonic as he continues his pursuit of an 18th grand slam title and record eighth All England Club crown.
Murray followed Federer onto Wimbledon's famous showcourt and treated the crowd to another thriller as he squandered a two-set lead before storming to a 7-6 (12/10), 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1 win over French 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
On the brink of a shock exit, Murray rallied impressively in the deciding set, screaming out to his box "there's no way I'm losing this match" before making good on his rallying call.
Murray's 100th career grass-court win booked his seventh Wimbledon semifinal and Czech 10th seed Tomas Berdych stands between the 29-year-old Scot and his second All England Club final.
"It was a tough match. Tsonga is one of the best grass-court players in the world and he came up with some great shots at big moments," Murray said.
"I just tried to use all my energy at the start of the fifth set to get myself pumped up and thankfully I got the early break and managed to hang onto it."
Earlier, Raonic enjoyed a far more serene progress to his second Wimbledon semi-final as he ended Sam Querrey's surprise run to the last eight with a 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 victory on Court One.
The 25-year-old was too strong for Querrey, who had eliminated defending champion Novak Djokovic.
In another quarterfinal, Berdych crushed France's Lucas Pouille 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-2. He is one win away from his second grand slam final six years after losing to Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon title match.
0 Comments