Wimbledon 2016: Andy Murray battles through to the SW19 semi-finals with five-set victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Scot triumphs in the sunshine as he continues his pursuit of a second Wimbledon title in thriller on packed Centre Court
ANDY MURRAY has plenty of work to do to match Bjorn Borg’s fantastic five Wimbledon titles.
But he surpassed Borg’s tally of last-four appearances by reaching his seventh SW19 semi-final with the kind of epic five-set win on which the iconic Swede built his legend.
The British No 1 also equalled the bearded one’s 51 wins on the hallowed turf and had a ton of reasons to be cheerful after holding off Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to record his 100th victory on grass.
Murray, 29, said: “Borg is one of the best players that’s ever played.
“I must be doing something right to have equalled his wins.
“He also won the tournament a lot more than me. I still have a long way to go to catch up.
“But 51 at this event is obviously a lot. Hopefully I can win a couple more between now and the end of the tournament.”
After a stirring day on Centre Court, Murray is two wins away from his second Wimbledon crown.
But only after he withstood a great fightback from Tsonga.
The Frenchman had looked finished at two sets down — and on the way out again when Murray broke for a 4-2 lead in the fourth.
But Tsonga won four games in a row and had a break point at the start of the decider, before Murray — and a crowd exhausted after the earlier drama — found another gear.
Murray added: “It was a great, great match.
“I just tried to use all of my energy at the beginning of the fifth set to get myself up and get the crowd pumped up because they had had a long day.”
Not for the first time this fortnight, Murray had been in danger of being upstaged at his home Grand Slam.
Madcap Marcus Willis, super-server Sam Querrey and even naughty Nick Kyrgios, with his half-hearted defeat to the Scot, had all stirred the emotions more than the British No 1’s impressive but untroubled progress through the first four rounds had.
And after Roger Federer’s sensational comeback win over Marin Cilic had sucked the crowd as well as the air out of Centre Court, the arena was half-empty as Murray and Tsonga began their match.
RELATED STORIES
The atmosphere was a bit flat, and so was the home favourite.
But after Tsonga had retrieved a break and the set reached a tiebreak, there was lift-off.
Tsonga had seen three set points come and go, and so had Murray before he made one of those trademark chase-downs of what looked like a lost cause.
The Scot jumped and yelled and urged the home fans to pump up the volume.
And when Tsonga netted to lose an epic tiebreak 12-10, they did.
Murray is — usually — the master of exploiting a momentum change.
He had a heap of help from Tsonga, who is 31 yet slipped into his best Kyrgios impression in the first five games of a one-sided second set.
But the Scot took full advantage of his opponent being visibly demoralised, just as he had done against the Australian.
Then everything changed.
As the Frenchman rediscovered his pride, his forehand and his booming serve in the third set, Murray’s level dropped.
The Scot seemed to have regained the initiative when he broke for 4-2 in the fourth, but Tsonga came roaring back to force a decider.
Murray saved a break point in the opening game and let out one of his primal screams when he took Tsonga’s serve in the second.
Surely now, everything would come together.
Another yell followed the double break for 4-0.
And soon it was arms aloft to accept the acclaim of the crowd which had been royally entertained for nearly eight hours.
Murray said: “That was a really hard match to come through.
“I think it can give you a bit of confidence.
“If you’re in that position in the next couple of matches, you know you’ve been there.
“I’m hoping it helps me the next couple of rounds.”
Two more wins, starting with his semi-final against Tomas Berdych, would leave Murray still three Wimbledon titles behind Borg.
But for those like the 2013 champion who are too young to have seen the Swede play, matches like this cement a place in SW19 folklore.
