Tales of the unexpected as Murray, Federer aim for final showdown

France’s Tsonga has now lost three times to the world number two at the All England Club, as the Scot set up a semi-final clash with Tomas Berdych with a 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1 victory.

But Murray made sure he wouldn’t blow his lead, turning up his intensity and dominating the final set, outlasting Tsonga 7-6 (10), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the seventh time in his career.

Those who paid for a ticket certainly got their money’s worth, having earlier seen Roger Federer escape from two sets down for an epic comeback win against Marin Cilic.

Tsonga, who has reached his 13th Grand Slam quarter-final in search of his first title, joked: “The one time that Novak Djokovic goes out early, he is not in my section of the draw!”

The Briton was calling for support from his team and checking his motivational notes at the changeovers as Tsonga launched an impressive fightback in the third and fourth sets.

“Andy was a little better than me on this last set”.

In Melbourne, Murray defended his then-fiancee Kim Sears – now his wife – over what appeared to be an expletive-laden rant towards Berdych during their last-four match.

Berdych, whose slow start suggested he was feeling the effects of close to 11-and-a-half hours on court in his four previous matches, threatened to fritter away a 5-1 lead in the first-set tiebreak before a deep approach shot set him up for a clean forehand victor. Murray then survived a marathon sixth game and break points to consolidate, but Tsonga was just getting into his stride, and did level for 4-4.

Andy Murray wins five consecutive games to start the second set, putting himself in a position to win set point nearly immediately out the gate.

So when he held a break point in the opening game, things were looking bleak for Murray.

“There’s a lot more hopes left than me”.

“I think he’s going to be exhausted but I think it’s going to spur him on”. They have, though, never played on grass, and Murray admitted it could be a tight affair.

And with Ivan Lendl adding his knowledge too it looks a tall order for Berdych, who is at his biggest ever price of [7.4] against the Scot, having been a biggest priced [4.76] way back in 2011 in Bercy (in a match Berdych won).

At 3-2 up in the fourth set, Murray broke for what seemingly would be the decisive moment of the match, but was immediately hauled back by Tsonga’s free hitting.

Roger Federer still has a chance against Marin Cilic at Wimbledon.

The potential of a Murray-Federer final therefore now looms large – albeit with some tricky semi-final opponents still to be faced by the pair.

And the buzz as Murray and Tsonga knocked up felt more like an echo of the roars sounding out 10 minutes before than an expression of anticipation. “As the match went on, I was able to sustain a really high level of play”, said Federer. When he went two sets up you thought it was cruise control but to Tsonga’s credit he fought hard to put himself in a position.

In the end, Murray claimed six of the last seven games to complete a 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1 victory and earn a crack at Tomas Berdych on Friday. Murray fought off three sets points before converting his fourth set point with a sweet backhand volley into the open court. “Ideally, I don’t want to have him dictating all of the points because then I’ll be doing a lot of running”. The next three service games were easy holds of serve and the set needed the tiebreak to separate both players.