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Summary Andy Murray defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the semifinal of Wimbledon.
Andy Murray ended Britains 74-year wait for a male Wimbledon finalist on Friday as the world number four clinched a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 semi-final victory over French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.Murrays triumph consigned a miserable run of 11 semi-final failures by British men to the history books and emulated the achievement of Bunny Austin, the last home challenger to reach the Wimbledon mens final back in 1938.The 25-year-old had lost at the semi-final stage for the last three years, joining Tim Henman, Roger Taylor and Mike Sangster on the list of British near-misses at the All England Club.But decades of anguish faded from view in front of a jubiliant Centre Court crowd as Murray booked a showdown with six-time champion Roger Federer in Sundays final.While Murrays victory has put one ghost to rest, the Scot wont be truly satisfied until he has become the first British man to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936.Murrays meeting with Federer will be the Scots fourth attempt to win a Grand Slam final following defeats at the Australian Open in 2010 and 2011 and the 2008 US Open.Its tough to explain (how it feels). Its a bit of relief and excitement, said Murray who appeared close to tears as he celebrated on court.I started the match really well but one loose game let him back in. It was so close in the last two sets.He was hitting some unbelievable winners and had break points at 4-4, but I managed to hang tough there and win it.I tried to stay calm, but its not easy. Theres a lot of pressure and stress but you need to just focus on the next point and not think about what happened in the past.It was an emotional end to the match. Ive just got to keep it together for the final. It will be one of the biggest matches of my life.Tsonga believes Murray may struggle to recover physically in time for the final.Andy looked pretty tired at the end and itll be tough to recover against Roger, but I hope he does, said the Frenchman.I am proud of what I have done here. I fought but I lost. Hopefully, I can do better next time.
