Tenth seed Berdych tried but was never in the match as Murray mixed aggression with defence and never let his Czech opponent, a one-time Wimbledon finalist, settle or gain his rhythm.
Advertisement
Unlike his past two final appearances, which saw him take on Federer and Novak Djokovic, Murray will enter Sunday’s final as the favorite to win the title.
World no.2 Murray, who was already on the half of the draw not containing Novak Djokovic or Federer, will now not have to play either in the final.
And if Murray needed any more convincing that this will be the year when he adds to his 2012 US Open and 2013 Wimbledon titles it’s seeing Ivan Lendl back in his coaching corner.
The eight-time Grand Slam victor guided the Scot to victories at the Olympic Games in London and US Open in 2012 and his famous Wimbledon win 12 months later.
Britain’s Andy Murray returns against Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych during their men’s singles semi-final match of the 2016 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 8, 2016.
Murray leads Raonic 6-3 in their head to head record and the Scot will start favourite on Sunday. On Sunday, Murray will get a reprieve from facing Djokovic as he meets Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon final.
On the women’s side, it’s no surprise to see top-seeded Serena Williams going for her seventh Wimbledon title Saturday. Raonic is just the second Canadian after Eugenie Bouchard to make a grand slam singles final. He then served out the set.
Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych traded early breaks in the Wimbledon semifinals.
But Raonic, who rallied to a five-set win over 17-time major victor Roger Federer to become the first Canadian man to reach a grand slam singles final, was far from complacent after what is easily the biggest moment of his career.
McEnroe said that Raonic’s game plan had been to serve at the body and keep the ball as much as possible away from the Federer backhand.
Federer missed this year’s French Open due to an injury. Roger Federer was able to finally out serve Raonic during the fourth frame.
After that break, Federer called for a trainer on the changeover and had his right thigh massaged.
“I have played 10 sets (against Cilic and Raonic)”.
But the second seed won’t underestimate Raonic who reached the final by coming from two sets to one down to defeat seven-time champion Federer.
Raonic took the first set from Federer in an impressive 6-3 effort, but with Federer winning the next two sets in a 7-3 tiebreaker and then 6-4, it looked like a familiar story was about to play out.
Murray is on a five-match winning run against Raonic but has found life far from straightforward against his rival this year.
Serving to get to a tiebreaker at 6-5 in the fourth set, Federer went up 40-love.
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.
Roger Federer won the second set against Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon semifinals 7-6 (3).
Advertisement
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.
