JUST when he needed a straightforward victory, preferably in three sets and with the minimum of fuss, Andy Murray came up with the goods to book his place in the 2016 Wimbledon final.
Scotland and indeed the whole of Britain will be glued to the screens tomorrow afternoon to see if Murray can repeat his 2013 feat of winning the championships.
Given his progress through the tournament where only Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took sets off him, Murray is looking very good for glory.
He will surely not have as easy a time against Milos Raonic of Canada, yesterday’s conqueror of Roger Federer, as he did against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
The world no. 2 from Dunblane never had to reach the heights he is capable of to beat Berdych in under two hours, but his mastery over the world no.9 was comprehensive.
Still, we saw no smiles cracking the face of Ivan Lendl, the former champion who had coached Murray to Olympic and Grand Slam success and who is now back in his corner after famously turning down his countryman Berdych to work with the Scot again.
Now there will be a very intriguing clash of the coaches tomorrow as Raonic has Lendl’s famous rival John McEnroe in his support staff.
It started well for Murray who came onto court looking utterly determined yet relaxed, no doubt boosted by the fact that he had just seen Federer, his great rival and main threat for the title, downed in five sets by 25-year-old Raonic, who Murray beat on grass at Queen’s just three weeks ago.
Berdych was not inexperienced at this level, having reached the semis of all four Grand Slams in his career. And, of course, he was the losing finalist at Wimbledon in 2010, in which he defeated Federer and Novak Djokovic before losing to Rafael Nadal in the final.
Yet Murray had vastly more experience, with 37 career titles in all to Berdych’s 12, and he was desperate to reach his 11th final and overtake the record of Fred Perry as the Briton to reach the most Grand Slam finals.
Berdych was nervous and it showed as he served a double fault to lose his opening service game, but fair play to the Czech as he broke back immediately and then held serve to make it 2-2.
Murray’s service is better than ever and a huge ace set up a service hold and indeed the games went according to serve until Murray broke to go 5-3 up.
Another ace gave Murray the first set, and already it was clear that while he was on his game, Berdych was making too many unforced errors.
He clocked up 13 in the first set alone compared to only one from Murray.
Murray’s superb sprint and down-the-line winner was the feature of the fourth game in the second set, and after Berdych held with difficulty, the tenth seed then put Murray under pressure. However, the the Scot – with typical doggedness – held his serve and took the next three games, breaking Berdych twice and taking the set with a stunning forehand winner.
Berdych’s error count continued to grow, but Murray was putting him under so much pressure that they were inevitable. The Scot raced to a 4-1 lead, breaking Berdych’s serve and then using that outrageous lob of his to break Berdych’s heart.
Murray was now serving superbly and even though Berdych got it back to 5-3, the 2013 champion held his service to win 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 and set up a final in which, for the first time in a Grand Slam, he won’t be playing Federer or Djokovic.
Murray was coolness personified: “I’m obviously very happy. It was a good match today. The middle part of the second set was key – he had a few big chances. Making another Wimbledon final is great.
“Raonic was a tough match [at Queen’s]. I’m aware I’ll have to play very well if I am to win.”
After such a special dominant performance all his fans can surely hope that Murray, who is playing the best tennis of his career, can put it all together again tomorrow.
It will be party time in Dunblane, and Murray, the pride of Scotland, will not want to let them down.
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