Andy Murray is First British Man in 74 Years to Earn Wimbledon Final

Andy Murray will play in his first Wimbledon final on Sunday. Nowherexg0d | photobucket.com

Andy Murray became the first British man in 74 years to advance to the Wimbledon final on Friday.

Murray has made it to the semi-final at Wimbledon numerous times before, but he’s never been able to make it to the final. Neither has any other British man for 74 years.

Murray had to battle his way to the Wimbledon final this year.

In the round of 16 he had numerous rain delays and kept his calm. Then in the quarter-final he faced David Ferrer and went down a set. He then battled it out with Ferrer for a place in the semi-finals.

On Friday Murray opened up strong against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Murray went up 3-love quickly before Tsonga started battling back.

Tsonga was not able to comeback in the set and Murray won 6-3.

Murray continued to control the match in the second set and took the set, 6-4.

Once Tsonga had gone down two sets, he called for the trainer.

Tsonga came out in the third set strong,  going up 3-love.

Murray had a weak first service game in the third set and Tsonga was able to get back into the match.

Tsonga took the third set at 6-3.

Tsonga and Murray battled it out in the final set. Murray wanted to end the match at the fourth set and Tsonga wanted to extend the match to another set.

Tsonga looked like he would get his wish when he tied the set up at 5-5.

There was some confusion with the final point of the match.

In Murray’s press conference he said that he thought Tsonga had challenged the call. When he found out there was no call and that the ball was thought out, he challenged the call. The ball was indeed in and with that Murray earned his place in his first Wimbledon final.

Andy Murray		Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
60%	First Serve %	63%
9	Aces	11
2	Double Faults	2
40	Winners	47
12	Unforced Errors	42
4/12	Break Points Won	2/8
13/30	Net Points Won	45/76

Match Time: 2h 47m

Andy Murray	6	6	3	7
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	3	4	6	5

Maria Sharapova is World Number 1 Again

Maria Sharapova has earned the number 1 ranking once again. ram13579 | photobucket.com

Maria Sharapova beat Petra Kvitova to earn the number one ranking in the world once again and a place in her first French Open final.

In spite of very windy conditions, Sharapova was able to play well and win in straight sets in less than an hour and a half.

The winds were approximately 30 to 35 mph and at first had a major affect on both players.

Sharapova managed to master the wind and take control of the match. She said in her press conference that patience was very important with those conditions and not letting her self get frustrated, because that can let you down.

Kvitova was clearly getting frustrated and her emotions got the best of her.

“It’s amazing to be back in this position of being world number one again,” Sharapova said in her press conference.

She went on to say that it was a very special day for her, earning the number one ranking again and earning her first final in the French Open.

Sharapova said it was a long road and process back to the number one ranking and she didn’t know if she would ever get there again.

She said she started playing tennis when she was four years old and she has committed herself to the sport.

After Sharapova’s shoulder surgery she had gone down to 126^th in the world. She has not been number one in the world for seven years.

Sharapova will play in the finals on Saturday for her first French Open title and the only grand slam she has yet to win.

Petra Kvitova		Maria Sharapova
62%	First Serve %	79%
0	Aces	3
2	Double Faults	3
10	Winners	15
20	Unforced Errors	17
1/5	Break Points Won	4/6
4/6	Net Points Won	3/6

Match Time: 1h 17m

Petra Kvitova	3	3
Maria Sharapova	6	6

Check out this interview of Maria Sharapova earning the trophy for reaching Number 1.