NEVER mind the hiccups, here's the real Andy Murray again. After playing hesitantly at times in a manner reminiscent of Tim Henman in his fourth-round thriller against Stanislas Wawrinka, the No 3 seed returned to a consistently high level against Juan Carlos Ferrero yesterday.
The 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 victory against the Spaniard was the 200th win of Murray's senior career, but more importantly it took him to a Wimbledon semi-final for the first time in his career. The Scot thus preserved his record of going a round further every
time he has competed at the tournament, having reached the third round on his senior debut in 2005, the fourth a year later, and, after missing out in 2007 because of injury, reaching the last eight in 2008.
Murray was eliminated by Rafael Nadal at that stage, falling flat after beating Richard Gasquet in five sets two days earlier. Yesterday there was no such hangover against former world No 1 Ferrero, and in a match which lasted for an hour and 41 minutes Murray was at or close to his best for all but a five-minute lapse at the start of the second set.
The match began a little after 3pm, with Centre Court at its hottest of the fortnight so far, and was over by the time at which he has become accustomed to beginning his matches.
The reason for Murray's slow start in the previous round, the fact he was playing under the closed roof for the first time, did not apply in this quarter-final.
As a result, he got his service going straight away, winning the first game without losing a point.
Ferrero, who is currently 70th in the world and is gradually making his way up through the rankings again after overcoming some injury problems, also played well at first.
When he did run into trouble, the first sign of which was a break point in the fourth game, he got out of it with a pleasing variety of shots.
The superiority of Murray's serve was shown by the relative number of aces – eight to one – recorded by the players in the first set. What made the difference at the business end of it, however, was the Scot's ability to put pressure on his opponent at crucial points.
Luck was on Murray's side as well in the 12th game, which Ferrero needed to win to force the tiebreak. A net cord went in the seeded player's favour to put the Spanish wildcard 15-30 down, and suddenly he did not look as calm as he had done for the rest of the set. Ferrero saved a first set point after an excellent rally, but when confronted with another he delivered a first double fault.
The footballing adage that you are always at your most vulnerable when you have just scored a goal has its equivalent in tennis, and Murray showed that at the top of the second. After putting so much effort into wrapping up the first set, he looked like he was sleepwalking for a few moments, and soon found his serve had been broken and he was 0-1 down. Having taken what amounted to an unofficial time out, he was soon back fighting, and from 1-3 down he won five games in a row to go two sets up.
Ferrero is too talented and too honourable a player to throw in the towel, but sportsmen who compete at these rarefied levels have a realistic understanding of when their opponents are simply better than them, and the odd wistful look of recognition on the Spaniard's face testified to that.
The game was up when his serve was broken for Murray to take a 3-2 lead, and when it was broken again two games later all that remained was for the British No 1 to serve out. He did so with ease, delivering a winning serve on match point to claim a place in the semi-final.
It was a vastly reassuring performance for those supporters who had worried that the exertions of the Wawrinka match might have taken too much out of Murray, and the player himself said he felt in good shape. "I felt fine," he said.
"I slipped once on the court, but apart from that I was not stiff at all from the match before. I thought the second and third sets were very good. The first set I served very well, but made quite a lot of mistakes from the back, hit the ball pretty short."
Murray was talking as his potential semi-final opponents, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt, were still around the halfway stage of their marathon fight on No 1 Court.
While pointing out that the American No 6 seed and the 2002 champion from Australia have contrasting strengths, he said that both would be difficult opponents.
"Obviously Roddick, along with (Ivo] Karlovic, is one of the best servers in the game. Hewitt is one of the best returners. So against Roddick I'll need to return very well. Against Hewitt, more important that I serve well. But both are obviously very tough matches."
With bad weather forecast for tomorrow, there is a chance that Murray will be playing with the roof closed again. He insisted his comments about it on Monday night has been misconstrued, and said that rather than complaining about being told to play under the roof his concern had been the short notice given.
Finally, after he had revealed he had received a handwritten letter of support from the well-known tennis fan Sir Cliff Richard, Murray shattered the musical credibility of his mother, Judy, when asked to expand on what the note said. "It just said well done for winning the other night," he replied. "I don't have any of his records, but my mum does."
We can only trust that Sir Cliff does not get any ideas about singing Congratulations live on court should Murray win the final.
'Andymonium' sweeps a sweltering 'Henman Hill'IT WAS standing room only on the area formerly known as Henman Hill as thousands of fans without Centre Court tickets gathered on the grassy bank at Wimbledon to watch Andy Murray waltz past Juan Carlos Ferrero to book his place in the semi-finals.
Murray-mania started early in the day, as those who pitched up first thing to secure a spot on the hill were treated to highlights of the 22-year-old's marathon Monday night fourth round match.
Many then headed down to the practice courts, showering the world number three with cries of "We love you, Andy" as he knocked the ball about with his coach in preparation for the afternoon clash with the world number 70. As one fan shouted "It's your year" a casually dressed Murray responded "I hope so" prompting smiles from those watching.
By the time the much anticipated match began, thousands of people were settled on the grass for the afternoon, sipping glasses of Pimm's as others jostled to find a perch from which to watch the Scot continue his quest for the Wimbledon crown.
The hill was given its nickname in fond tribute to Tim Henman – the player Britain had hoped would end a drought at Wimbledon which has not seen a home grown men's singles winner since Fred Perry in 1936 – but some have now begun to call Murray Mound.
Several rows of people braved the pain of sitting on the scorching hot pavement at the bottom of the hill in a bid to catch a glimpse of the match on the giant television screen.
Comments such as "we're never going to find a spot" and "I told you it would be packed" could be heard from people trudging past, desperately scanning the crowds for even the smallest gap.
Girls with "I love Murray" written on their faces sheltered under umbrellas as the searing afternoon heat beat down on the hill and people fanned themselves with programmes in an attempt to keep cool.
The crowd, dotted with Saltires and Union Jacks, cheered at every point Murray won, erupting into rapturous applause he broke his opponent to take the first set.
"We were standing on our tip toes," said Natasha Birnie, a 26-year-old teacher from London. "It is a fantastic atmosphere, very exciting."
As Murray won the second set the shouts of "come on Andy" grew louder and at match point in the third, a Mexican wave rippled through the crowd.
It was not long before he answered their call and as Ferrero hit a forehand long to hand Murray a place in his first Wimbledon semi-final, the crowd exploded. Jumping up and down, they chanted "Murray, Murray" in celebration. "It is brilliant, you can't beat it," said Debbie Grantham from Canterbury.
It seems England has warmed at last to the Scot who has had a tepid reception here in previous years.
Kylie MacLellan at Wimbledon 