LONDON, (Reuters) – Andy Murray consigned one of Wimbledon’s long-standing statistics to the scrapheap when he became the first Briton to reach the All England Club men’s final in 74 years with a 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-5 win over Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga today.
Since Bunny Austin was the last home hope to reach the showpiece match in 1938, there have been 11 occasions when a British man had lost in the semi-finals.
Murray kept his wits about him, including in the third set when Tsonga’s game suddenly caught fire, to end that sorry sequence and the Frenchman’s resistance in two hours 47 minutes.
The fourth seed will bid to become the first British man to triumph at the citadel of grasscourt tennis since Fred Perry in 1936 when he takes on Roger Federer, who will be chasing a record-equalling seventh Wimbledon title, in the final on Sunday.