Friday, July 6, 2012

Murray ends 74-year waiting game to reach final

Andy Murray points to the sky after completing his semifinal victory at Wimbledon over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Andy Murray points to the sky after completing his semifinal victory at Wimbledon over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

LONDON - Andy Murray consigned one of Wimbledon's long-standing statistics to the scrapheap when he became the first Briton to reach the All England Club men's final in 74 years with a 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-5 win over Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday.
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Bunny Austin was the last home player to achieve the feat in 1938.
Victory for fourth seed Murray would give Britain their first male grand slam winner since the legendary Fred Perry back in 1936.
He had to battle for nearly three hours on Centre Court before ending the brave challenge of fifth seed Tsonga, who mounted a sterling recovery after trailing by two sets.But the 25-year-old Murray finally worked two match points as he led 6-5 in the fourth set and dramatically took his chance.
A forehand winner was initially called out but Murray challenged the decision and was proved to be right, sealing his victory.


Earlier Friday, Federer beat top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic in four sets to reach a record eighth final.If Federer claims the title Sunday he will equal the record of seven for the Open Era, held by American great Pete Sampras and extend his grand slam tally to 17.
Federer has not won a grand slam title for two and a half years since his 2010 Australian Open success where he beat Murray in the final. If he beats the Scot again Sunday he will also return to the top spot in the world rankings.



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