体坛英语新闻：Murray, Djokovic advance to Wimbledon semis

LONDON, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Local favorite Andy Murray fought back from two sets down to beat unseeded Fernando Verdasco en route to the last four at the Wimbledon Championships as top seed Novak Djokovic cruised to the semifinals with an easy victory over Tomas Berdych.

Djokovic, the 2011 champion, reached the last four at the Grand Slam events for the 13th consecutive time by beating Berdych 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3.

The Serb will take on Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina for a for a place in Sunday's final.

Del Potro, the eighth seed, defeated Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in another match.

World No. 2 Murray went down 0-2 in the first two sets and was on the brink of elimination in the deciding set but fought back to beat 54th-ranked Verdasco 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5.

Going against the 54th-ranked player, Murray dropped the first two sets, unable to handle Verdasco's pinpoint serves.

He clawed back to the game slowly. In the sixth game of the fourth set, Murray saved two 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.

"(I) made some bad mistakes, poor choices on the court," Murray said. "And then, I turned it around really well after that."

Murray, the reigning US Open champion, will vie for a final berth in the second half against Polish 24th seed Jerzy Janowicz, who beat compatriot Lukasz Kubot 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

The Scottish has reached the Wimbledon final for the fifth time in a row and will become the first Briton to win here since Fred Perry in 1936.

Djokovic, a six-time Grand Slam champion, took a sweet revenge on his defeat in the 2010 semifinals to Berdych, who has recorded two wins from their 15 meetings.

"It was a very close match, and that was what I expected," said Djokovic. "One shot decided the winner of the first set and that was an important advantage for me. I don't know how I managed to turn the second set around, but it was a he confidence boost for me to go two sets up.

"I could see he was frustrated in the third set so I capitalised when I needed to and he missed a few easy shots." Now I feel physically fresh for the semifinal."

Murray, who was beaten by Roger Federer in last year's final, was watched by former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and finally went through.

"I came through an incredibly tough match. It could have gone the other way. I found a way to get through and that's all you need," said Murray.