Murray rallies late to reach Wimbledon semifinal
LONDON – Andy Murray had all of Britain on edge for five sets.
Juan Martin del Potro only took five points to get the fans buzzing at Wimbledon.
Two victories in two very different matches Wednesday sent Murray and del Potro onto the semifinals at the All England Club.
Murray completed his seventh career comeback from two sets down to top Fernando Verdasco, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5.
“Made some bad mistakes, poor choices on the court,” Murray said. “And then, I turned it around really well after that.”
Earlier on Centre Court, del Potro hyperextended his left knee and crumpled to the ground on the fifth point, but shook off the injury for a 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory over No. 4 David Ferrer.
“To be honest, I didn’t want to retire (being) in the quarters for first time at Wimbledon,” del Potro said.
Del Potro’s next match is Friday against No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who took down No. 7 Tomas Berdych 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3 on Court 1.
Murray will play No. 24 Jerzy Janowicz, a 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 winner over Lukasz Kubot in the first Grand Slam meeting between two Polish men.
Going against the 54th-ranked Verdasco, Murray certainly made things interesting for the British fans, looking for one of their own to call a Wimbledon champion for the first time in 77 years. He dropped the first two sets, unable to handle Verdasco’s pinpoint serves that reached as high as 136 mph.
Slowly, he crept back into the match. In the sixth game of the fourth set, Murray saved a pair of break points – first with a service winner, then with one of his 13 aces. Three games later, he broke Verdasco, then served out the set. In the fifth set, the players held serve for 10 straight games. In the 11th, Murray broke, then served out the match at love.
During a tournament with more than its share of twists and turns Djokovic and del Potro have gone through virtually unscathed, on the scoreboard at least. Neither man has dropped a set.
Djokovic overcame a two-break, 3-0 deficit in the second set to cruise to his latest victory over Berdych, the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up. Djokovic is in his 13th straight Grand Slam semifinal and in search of his seventh major title.