Murray is put to the test but sees off Tsonga

In the other semi-final Tomas Berdych will face Novak Djokovic after knocking out defending champion and six-times title-holder Roger Federer.

Fourth seed Murray battled past big-hitting Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 6-2 in a tense encounter on Centre Court to set up a last-four meeting with the 2008 champion tomorrow.

Murray can certainly take confidence from his previous grand slam encounters with Nadal, having beaten the Spaniard on his way to his previous finals – at the US and Australian Opens.

The 23-year-old said: "I know it's going to be an incredibly difficult match to win, but it's one I believe I can win if I play well."

For most of the first two sets against Tsonga it looked like talk of a meeting with Nadal was extremely premature as Murray struggled to deal with the raw power of his opponent.

Tsonga fired winner after winner on his forehand and snuffed out any half chances with huge serving before edging a close first-set tie-break.

Murray broke early in the second set but could not hold onto his advantage and he looked to be in real trouble when Tsonga moved 5-4 ahead in the tie-break.

The 10th seed, though, lost both his service points and it was Murray who was able to serve out the set.

The third set turned on a lengthy third game, where Murray finally broke at the sixth time of asking. That seemed to put a dent in Tsonga's belief and from then on the winner was never in doubt.

The Scot, though, knew how close to the brink he had gone against an opponent who beat him in the opening round of the Australian Open two years ago.

He said: "It was very difficult. Obviously the first couple of sets were very close. He was going for huge shots and not giving me a rhythm.

"It's very difficult to know exactly how to play when someone's just going for broke on everything.

"I just had to hang in and I managed to win that second-set tie-break. I felt a lot better after that.

"He can play incredible tennis. When he is playing like that he's so difficult to beat, one of the best players in the world. But you've got to try to stay tough. It's very difficult to play at that level and that sort of high-risk tennis for a whole match."

Arguably the most crucial point of the match came at 5-5 in the second tie-break, when Tsonga left a return from Murray thinking it was going out, only for the ball to land on the line.

"I was obviously surprised that he left it, but I did really well to get a racquet on the serve," continued the Scot.

"It happens. People make misjudgments sometimes. I managed to win the next point and change the match.

"I was struggling, he was hitting big serves and going for huge shots and I was having to hang in there. But I managed to get the tie-break and I played a lot better after that."

Tsonga was left to rue that decision but he did not have any complaints about the outcome of the match.

"This is tennis," Tsonga said. "Sometimes you let a ball go and you lose on this ball. I played a good match, but he was better than me."

The 10th seed has again had his injury struggles this season and he looked rusty in his first few rounds having not played since retiring during the French Open with a hip problem.

But he felt he was back to his best during the first two sets yesterday and leaves the All England Club contented having reached a first Wimbledon quarter-final.

He said: "I'm happy because (yesterday) I found a level I haven't played for a long time at the beginning of the match. Maybe if I can play like this and I'm more consistent, I will do some good things."

World No 13 Berdych, who is hoping to become the first Czech men's champion at Wimbledon since Jan Kodes in 1973, posted a 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-4 victory over Federer.

He ended an eight-match losing run against Federer in Miami in March and earlier this month achieved his best grand slam run by reaching the semi-finals at Roland Garros.

Federer could not handle Berdych's booming serve and his clinical forehands as he joined last year's runner-up Andy Roddick on the sidelines, leaving his conqueror to prepare for another big test.

Third-seeded Djokovic beat Yen-Hsun Lu 6-3 6-2 6-2. Taiwan's No 1 had caused a huge shock in the previous round to oust Roddick but was outclassed yesterday.

Djokovic did not have to defend a single break point as he pushed his performance levels close to those which took him to the Australian Open title in 2008.

Nadal bounced back from losing the first five games of his quarter-final against Robin Soderling to win in four sets.

The 2008 champion was one point away from being on the receiving end of a first-set whitewash before gradually getting on top of his opponent to win 3-6

6-3 7-6 6-1.

The 23-year-old revealed the knee problem that had troubled him during the first week of the tournament had subsided and he says he is looking forward to tomorrow's battle with Murray.

Results: Page 22.