It wasn’t until the quarter-final that Murray had his first real test as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took him to five sets before Murray powered through.
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Raonic at the bottom is serving for the first set up 5-3, but the 17-time Grand slam victor is able to prolong the frame with a nice passing shot.
Murray’s first experience of a slam final came back in 2008 at the US Open, when he defeated Nadal in the last four but lost to Federer in straight sets.
Moments before Raonic took to the court on Friday, Canadian Denis Shapovalov beat top-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece to reach the boys’ Wimbledon final.
The Canadian, who has been working with John McEnroe this summer, showed his mettle against Roger Federer on Friday as he came from behind to beat the Swiss master in five. However, Raonic has managed to defeat Federer twice this season. Raonic was 3-for-8 in break chances against Federer.
Raonic’s other coaches are former No. 1 and 1998 French Open champion Carlos Moya, and Ricardo Piatti.
Raonic is happy to see McEnroe keep up his media work, insisting that the colourful American always checks with him first if he believes there may be a conflict.
The Scot would take the opening set 6-3, and Berdych seemed to be tight, as he loses focus swinging wildly at this overhead, as fires it wide it would not be the Czech’s day.
Roger Federer won the second set against Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon semifinals 7-6 (3). Regardless, he played a great break point to get the break.
Raonic wins the first game of a set in the third set, as the pair goes on to split the first six games for a 3-3 tie.
He also had a stutter in the quarterfinals where he finally overcame Marin Cilic after saving three match points. “I was struggling there through the third and fourth sets”.
Before the fifth set started, Federer had a trainer massage his right thigh.
Raonic had a top serve speed of 144 mpg against Federer and an average first serve speed of 129 miles per hour compared to Federer’s 116 miles per hour on the first. He reaches match point two games later with a 40-15 win in the seventh game.
Murray could not have made a better start, breaking for 2-0 when Berdych double-faulted, but the Czech seized on some short balls from his opponent to hit straight back.
Can Murray win a second Wimbledon title on Sunday? “Obviously from what happened here two years ago, that was very disappointing”. But I helped him so much to get back. “I just hope with the slip I had in the fifth, I’m going to be fine tomorrow and beyond”. I think it can give you a bit of confidence. He tries to sort of get you doing a lot of different things. “I love it when he looks to be aggressive on that backhand side”.
“I hope I didn’t hurt myself”, Federer said.
Although he acknowledged Raonic’s strong performance at the match, he also admitted his own shortcomings had helped the Canadian along to victory and his first ever Grand Slam final.
On Sunday, Raonic will face No. 2 Andy Murray, who easily eliminated No. 10 Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the second semifinal.
The Scot, 29, overtakes Fred Perry in reaching an 11th major final – a new record for a British man.
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I’d suggest not enough to get the better of Murray, who has now beaten Raonic in their last five meetings, on grass, clay, outdoor hard and indoor hard.
