Andy Murray could not believe that how his draw got so much easier when Rafael Nadal, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Roger Federer were eliminated. He turned deaf ears to the issue that he won’t get a better chance to win Wimbledon. In addition he did not want to hear about how fortunate he was to have unseeded his quarterfinal opponent Fernando Verdasco.
Murray admitted on Monday that Verdasco is a very good tennis player and he is playing very well this week. He is aware that Verdasco is extremely dangerous when he is playing his game. That’s it. He means to say that Verdasco is a very good tennis player.
In case the fans and the news media did not understand, they certainly did when Murray had lost the first two sets of their quarterfinal match on Wednesday afternoon. After scolding himself regarding what he was doing, following the second set, Murray rolled to the delight of the packed Centre Court and the masses on Murray Mount, where there was hardly any grass left to sit on. Along with their favorite down, the crowd yelled, "Come on, Andy!" amidst of points and repeatedly being rebuked by the chair umpire.
Murray agreed that he made poor choices in the second set, but won the third easily. Further, he saved four break points in the fourth. In addition, he broke Verdasco in the eighth game and then served out the set. In fact, the fifth was an on-serve duel until the 11th game, when Murray got the break and subsequently held at love to win the match by 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5. Verdasco was ranked at seventh in 2009. But presently at 29, he is 54th, the ninth ranked player in Spain. Till date, he has never advanced past the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Subsequently, Murray will lock horns with No. 24 seed Jerzy Janowicz, who is undergoing his breakthrough moment at this tournament. The 22-year-old from Poland, Janowicz progressed to his first Grand Slam semifinal by ousting his countryman Lukasz Kubot by 7-5, 6-4, 6-4. Earlier, Janowicz and Murray played in the fourth round of the Paris Masters in which Janowicz won.
Unlike Murray, Juan Martin del Potro and Novak Djokovic won a set in the tournament which pushed them into their quarterfinal matches. But del Potro injured his left knee in the first game and another fall almost retired him from the match.
On the other side, Djokovic was frustrated in the first set against Tomas Berdych. The Serb was down by two breaks in the second. Djokovic and Del Potro will lock horns in the semifinals on Friday.
After defeating the seventh-seeded Berdych by 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3, the top-ranked Djokovic crashed into his 13th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal. Additionally, he marched into the Wimbledon semifinals for the fourth straight year. After thrashing fourth-seeded David Ferrer by 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (5), the No. 8 del Potro made his way into the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time along with a heavily taped knee after slipping and hyperextending it in his third-round match on Saturday. Further, he hyperextended the knee on Wednesday in a spectacular fall which needed a medical help and anti-inflammatories, which he called as "magic pills." However, he continued to play because he emphasized that the quarterfinals of Wimbledon were too important for him and the doctors conveyed him that he could play without making the injury worse.
del Potro smashed Ferrer, who has also been suffering from an ankle injury during the third game. Del Potro claimed that the early service break gave him confidence and following winning the first set, he did not think about his knee. Ferrer kept on struggling with his first serve while the aggressive, efficient del Potro won the 2009 United States Open but has struggled with injuries since. Del Potro awarded himself a match point with an erupting cross-court forehand winner in the third-set tiebreaker. Next, he closed out the match by capping a riveting rally with a running forehand down the line. Ultimately, Del Potro collapsed in joy this time and laid on his back at the same time pumping his fists.
Next, Djokovic will face Del Porto. Certainly, Djokovic will pose a formidable challenge in the semifinals for a player who might not be entirely healthy. Truly, Berdych had opportunities against Djokovic. Luckily, he was up by 5-4 in the first-set tiebreaker. Further, he made three straight errors to award Djokovic the set.
Apparently, Berdych bounced back breaking Djokovic at love in the first game of the second set. He continued with two breaks at 3-0, but Djokovic rallied to put the match back on serve at 3-3. The rest of the match seemed like a routine.
