Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic reacts as he wins his men's singles semi-final against Serbia's Novak Djokovic Photo: AP
Rafael Nadal has reached his fourth Wimbledon final, but his first without Roger Federer, having stretched the British men's championship drought into a 75th year. There will be a new face in tomorrow night's Wimbledon decider, but it belongs to 12th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych.
Nadal, the 2008 title winner who was prevented by a knee injury from returning last year, won his 13th consecutive match at the All England Club, beating Murray 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 in a two hours and 22 minutes, thus ending the Scot's hope of succeeding Fred Perry as champion, and Henry Austin as the host nation's most recent finalist, in 1938.
The seven-time major winner embraced Murray at the net on what he called "a very important day for me" and "one of the biggest victories in my career, today", then kindly declaring the two-time finalist a future grand slam winner. And Murray in turn nominated the Spaniard as the favourite against Berdych, whom he has beaten seven times out of 10 and six in a row, including their only previous grasscourt meeting — in the quarter-finals here in 2007.
http://www.smh.com.
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