Britain’s Andy Murray tormented Tomas Berdych to claim a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory on Friday and reach his third Wimbledon final, setting up a Sunday showdown with Canadian Milos Raonic.
The second seed was totally dominant in the early-evening sunshine on Centre Court, ruthlessly dispatching the burly Czech who never threatened to stop the Murray bandwagon.
The Scot’s only brief wobble came early on when he dropped serve in the third game, having broken in the game before.
Some poor errors from Berdych gifted Murray another break, though, and the 29-year-old pocketed the first set.
A flat atmosphere, a contrast to the nerve-jangling one earlier when sixth seed Raonic beat seven-times champion Roger Federer in five sets, livened up when Murray flirted with danger.
This was at 2-3 in the second set, with the Briton brilliantly saving two break points.
From then on it was a one-sided procession as Murray broke 10th seed Berdych twice in a row to move two sets clear.
He did it again early in the third set as he closed in on his 11th Grand Slam final, one more than Fred Perry.
The 29-year-old Scot overtakes Perry in reaching an 11th major final — a new record for a British man.
Earlier, Raonic won a thrilling five-set contest to reach his first Grand Slam final and end Roger Federer’s hopes of an eighth Wimbledon title for another year.
The big-serving sixth seed won 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 on Centre Court to become the first Canadian man to reach a Grand Slam final.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Federer, 34, was beaten for the first time in 11 Wimbledon semi-finals.
Federer appeared to have nullified the Raonic threat and had victory in sight before the Canadian found another level to clinch the biggest win of his career.
He played superbly in the final set, while Federer — playing his second five-set match in three days — required treatment from the trainer twice in the closing stages.
Raonic recently added John McEnroe to his coaching team of Carlos Moya and Ricardo Piatti, and said the American’s influence had been significant.
“What he told me was to go out and leave it all out there,’’ Raonic said.
“I showed a lot of emotion, always positive. Mentally I had one of my best matches of my career.
“He gave me plenty that helped today, so did Carlos Moya. I hope they have a lot more to give me.
“I’ll focus on the task at hand. I’ve by no means done what I came here to do.’’
NAN reports that Federer was on course for a tie-break at two sets to one up, but lost a 40-0 lead with two double faults in a row.
“I can’t believe I served a double fault twice,’’ he said.
“Unexplainable for me really. Very sad about that and angry at myself because never should I allow him to get out of that set that easily.
“I mean, he deserved it. He earned it at the end. But I helped him so much to get back into that game.’’
The 17-time Grand Slam champion suffered a heavy fall in the fifth set, and does not yet know the extent of any damage done.
“I hope I didn’t hurt myself,’’ said Federer. “Is it a three day thing, is it a 24 hour thing or is it more? I don’t know at this point.
“I hope it’s not so bad. I walked it off. I was able to finish. But I don’t slip a lot. I don’t ever fall down. It was a different fall for me than I’ve ever had.
“With the body that’s been, you know, playing up this year, I just hope I’m going to be fine. I believe I am, but I’ll know more tomorrow (Saturday) when I wake up.”(Reuters/NAN)
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