Andy Murray beats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach his maiden final – Wimbledon Championships 2012
Andy Murray of Great Britain ended the 74 year drought of a home grown finalist, as he defeated France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals of the Wimbledon Championships on Friday.
The Brit produced some brilliant tennis to topple his French rival in four sets 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in two hours and 47 minutes to become the first player from his country since Bunny Austin in 1938 to advance to the title match
at the All England Club.
Murray, who had lost in the semi-finals in the last three years, will be hoping to break another deadlock on Sunday by becoming the first British to capture the Wimbledon crown in the last 76 years. None of the British players
has been able to win the biggest tournament in tennis since Fred Perry did it for the last time in 1936.
Talking about the latest match, Murray got off to a flying start, snatching a breakthrough in the second game and winning his subsequent serve to build a 3-0 lead. There was no strike by either of the two players in the rest of
the set and the Brit won it 6-3.
Murray and Tsonga made a steady start in the second set, as they held their serves in the first four games to level the score at 2-2. The British number one struck in the fifth game and capitalised on it to win 6-4.
Tsonga bounced back in the third set by capturing opening three games to go up 3-0. The Frenchman did not allow Murray to break back throughout the remaining set, closing it 6-3.
Murray and Tsonga exchanged a blow in the first 11 games of the fourth set to take the score to 6-5 in favour of the former. The Frenchman failed to hold at that moment and went down 5-7.
At the end of the match, Murray said, "I started the match really well, served really well. One loose game at the start of the third set and he came back into it. He was hitting some unbelievable passing shots, volleys. I did well
to hang in there in the end because he started to play really well."
He added, "Bit of relief, excitement, it’s tough to explain. It was such a close match in the end; the last two sets both of us had chances. He had the break points at 4-4 and I managed to hang tough. I’m so happy to be through."
The Brit will take on world number three, Roger Federer of Switzerland, in the title match.
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