Roger Taylor and Tim Henman will know how Andy Murray feels right now. They will hope Murray can become the first British man since Henry “Bunny” Austin in 1938 to reach The Championships final.
Both Taylor and Henman reached the semi-finals but could not reach the 'Holy Land', which for British tennis fans is a shot at snapping a 73-year men’s singles title drought. Taylor fell in the 1967, 1970 and 1973 semi-finals, while Henman’s four duels with Pete Sampras, Lleyton Hewitt and Goran Ivanisevic in recent years have been well-chronicled. Mike Sangster, who died in 1985, reached the 1961 semi-finals.
Now two wins away from emulating Fred Perry, who won the last of his three titles at the All England Club in 1936, Murray is riding a 10-match winning streak after defeating Spanish wild card Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 43 minutes on Centre Court Wednesday. It was his 200th match win.
Murray, who has a long-standing clothing agreement to wear Perry’s laurel wreath logo in his 1950s retro kit, lifted the AEGON Championships trophy three weeks ago to become the first Briton since Austin in 1938 to win at The Queen’s Club. On Friday, against sixth seed and two-time runner-up Andy Roddick, he will attempt to match Austin again.
‘Henman Hill’, officially known as Aorangi Terrace, was a sea of fans with Union Jacks and Scottish flags. Many have begun queuing, camping out, 36 hours before the start of his matches at The Championships. With each win the expectations of the British public increase, just as tickets sold by touts along Somerset Road are priced in the thousands.
After Murray’s tense five-set epic victory over Stanislas Wawrinka on Monday, his quarter-final victory over 29-year-old Ferrero – appearing in his second Wimbledon quarter-final – was comprehensive. "I felt fine," said Murray. "I slipped once on the court, but apart from that I was not stiff at all from the match before. The court today was playing very quick, so not that many long rallies, which was nice."
Ferrero recovered from 0/30 in his first service game and faced his first break point in the second game, but was given a reprieve as Murray sliced a forehand long of the baseline. Forceful throughout, Murray was able to break serve with his third break point opportunity in the 11th game, when Ferrero hit his first double fault.
Ferrero capitalised on a lapse in concentration from Murray to break the Scot’s serve in the first game of the second set. Murray went on to win 20 of 21 points, which included two service breaks to love. “In 10 minutes, he beat me,” admitted Ferrero. “He won the second set very fast. [At] two sets to love, [it] was a little difficult to come back. Physically I felt a little bit tired at the end.”
Ferrero saved a break point in the third game of the third set, but Murray earned another three break point opportunities in the fifth game – winning the last of the points with a forehand winner. He secured another service break before wrapping up victory to stand one win away from reaching the final.
“He has two matches to play, so we cannot say he’s the winner yet,” Ferrero warned. “Of course, he’s playing very well. He’s moving well in this court. He’s serving very well. But he has two matches left. He will suffer, for sure.”(From Website : http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2009/06/Wimbledon-Wednesday2-Murray-Beats-Ferrero.aspx)
