WIMBLEDON After two weeks of upsets and withdrawals then after more than seven hours on Friday of extraordinary tennis England has the final it wanted and expected all along Andy Murray gets his shot at the world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Murray reached his second straight Wimbledon final earning another chance on Sunday to become the first male British champion here since Fred Perry in 1936. The second seed defeated the giant erratic Polish upstart Jerzy Janowicz 6 7 (2) 6 4 6 4 6 3. It wasn t a great match not the epic semifinal that came before when Djokovic outlasted No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro 7 5 4 6 7 6 (2) 6 7 (6) 6 3. But Murray s victory sealed the deal and the glamorous climactic matchup.
Novak is moving very very well Murray said. But I (beat) him here at the Olympics and I ll take that thought into my head when I play him on Sunday. You never know. It depends on the day. Sometimes it can depend on how the match starts. Sometimes one player can be extremely nervous before. Who knows
Mike Hewitt/Getty Images The final set of the second semifinal is played under the closed roof on Centre Court.Murray was in some trouble early in his match playing loose points in the tiebreak and then falling behind a break 4 1 in the third set. Janowicz is just 22 years old however and his inexperience showed. After Murray 26 got lucky with a net cord in that sixth game to help him break back Janowicz lost his poise. He fell in love with a drop shot that rarely worked for him. Then as his first serve deserted him Janowicz began to lobby obsessively with chair umpire Jake Garner to shut the roof for better lighting.
After Janowicz had dropped five straight games and the third set Garner and tournament referee Andrew Jarrett agreed to close the roof at 8 40 p.m. early by Wimbledon standards. While waiting to resume Murray took a shower while Janowicz surprised him by making a phone call.
He s in a semifinal of Wimbledon he s on the phone but that s the kind of player he is he s very loose Murray said.
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images The crowd goes wild as Andy Murray wins Friday to reach his second straight Wimbledon final.Murray wasn t pleased by the half hour delay which didn t bother Janowicz a bit.
I don t care Janowicz said. What I can do I care about myself. I don t care if he was angry or not.
The break didn t reverse the course of the match. Murray broke Janowicz in the third game of the fourth set as the Pole sabotaged himself with another one of his 11 double faults.
Anja Niedringhaus/AP Novak Djokovic of Serbia survives a five set marathon to advance to the Wimbledon final.Earlier Djokovic and Del Potro put on an incredible display of slash and burn tennis over the course of four hours 43 minutes the longest semifinal in Wimbledon history. The quality of service and the accuracy of their turbo charged groundstrokes were truly overwhelming. This was not a study in contrasts but a test of wills and physical stamina.
I have been pushed to the limit today Djokovic said. It was one of the most thrilling matches that I have ever played especially here in Wimbledon. It was a very high quality tennis from the first to the last point. There s not many unforced errors a lot of winners. Both of us we tried to dictate the play.
Del Potro s stubbornness was borne out by the match statistics. Djokovic arguably the greatest returner in the game had 15 break point opportunities and was able to convert only three of them. Every time it appeared Del Potro was a goner that he had committed one too many mental errors or blown one too many overheads he somehow dredged up another sharp angled 105 mph forehand winner.
CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images Juan Del Potro comes up short in the final set after an epic semifinal at the All England Club.He was down a break in the fourth set and faced two match points in that fourth set tiebreaker. He hung in there joked around to lighten the pressure and rode the crowd s energy.
When I was down in moments of the match I saw the crowd Del Potro said. They re clapping to me. They don t care if I m No. 8 or my opponent is No. 1. They really enjoy the match. They like tennis. They make me fight all the time. Was incredible.
The fans loved his antics his sit downs in the stands. They called him Del Boy and Potty. If nothing else they figured he was softening up Djokovic for their man Murray.
STEFAN WERMUTH/REUTERS Novak Djokovic and Juan Del Potro get together at the net following nearly five hours of tennis.When it was over after Djokovic struck one more fantastic backhand down the line on match point Del Potro would not settle for a handshake from Djokovic. The Argentine insisted on an embrace at the net.
We tend to have these kinds of interactions in the matches when we play against each other the last few times Djokovic said. I have lots of respect for him. He s a very nice guy off the court also. We know each other for many years already.
In very different brackets American Taylor Townsend seeded fifth advanced to the girls junior final with a 2 6 7 6 7 5 upset of No. 2 Ana Konjuh of Croatia.
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