London: British third seed Andy Murray put in a punishing display of crisp hitting to dispose of Spanish wildcard Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday and reach the first Wimbledon semi-final of his career.
The Scot treated a capacity crowd in a sun-drenched Centre Court to his full range of hitting, pouncing early on the Spanish player's serve to take a major stride closer to ending Britain's 73-year wait for a men's champion.
"Very happy to come through in straight sets today because I had a long one in the round before," the 22-year-old said in a courtside interview.
Murray had brought the tournament to life on Monday with his riveting five-set victory over Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka under the floodlit canopy of the new Centre Court roof.
"To get to the semi-finals for the first time is nice and I shall try my best to go further," he said. "Once I got that first set I started to settle down and I returned great at the end."
The Scot broke in the 12th game of the opening set when Ferrero double-faulted, but the wily Spaniard, the 2003 French Open champion and former world number one, surged to a 3-1 lead in the second.
Murray reeled off five straight games with some gloriously accurate angles and victory came when Ferrero ballooned a forehand long after an hour 41 minutes.
He will play sixth seed Andy Roddick for a place in Sunday's final.
Roddick shakes off dogged Hewitt
Sixth seed Roddick brought former champion Lleyton Hewitt's tenacious Wimbledon run to an end on Wednesday with an energy-sapping 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 quarter-final victory.
Hewitt, showing the determination and guts which helped him to the title here in 2002, refused to lie down, twice coming from a set down before the 26-year-old American finally ended his challenge.
"I think there's a lot of respect there, we used to get into it a bit when we were younger. I think we've earned each other's respect," Roddick said in a courtside interview.
"Now we're just a couple of old married dudes, maybe we've grown up a little bit."
Roddick looked on course for a straightforward victory after taking the opening set in 27 minutes, but Hewitt -- roared on by the green and gold clad Fanatics on a sun-kissed Court One -- saved three set points in the second set tiebreak before levelling the match 12-10.
Roddick restored his lead with a 7-1 win in the third set tiebreak but again Hewitt, who at one point whacked his left thigh with racket in an attempt to shake off a niggle, came back to take it to a decider.
The American, a two-time finalist at Wimbledon, made the crucial break in game nine of the decider and held serve when Hewitt dumped a forehand volley long to claim victory after a three hour 50 minute shootout.
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