Murray joining some big names

Slowly but surely Andy Murray is scratching his name alongside the all-time grass-court greats on Wimbledon's hallowed lawns.

The Scot, who ended Britain's 77-year wait for a Wimbledon men's champion in 2013, a year after winning Olympic gold on Centre Court, notched a 51st Wimbledon match victory by fighting off Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in dramatic fashion on Wednesday.

It moved him into a tie for seventh on the all-time list of men's singles matches won here, alongside five-time champion Bjorn Borg, and put him into a seventh semifinal at the All England Club - the same number as his coach, Ivan Lendl, and world No 1 Novak Djokovic.

"That's really nice," Murray said when told he had matched Borg's tally of victories. "He's one of the best players ever. I must be doing something right."

The Scot's 7-6 (10), 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1 quarterfinal win over Tsonga was his ninth in a row at Wimbledon - matching the run of American Pete Sampras. He also became only the second active player to reach 100 grasscourt victories, after seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer (151).

Friday will see Murray contest his 20th Grand Slam semifinal - one more than Stefan Edberg and John McEnroe - when he faces Czech 10th seed Tomas Berdych.

Still only 29, and apparently at the peak of his powers, the statistical milestones could come thick and fast for Murray. The way he dug deep to subdue Tsonga's onslaught spoke volumes for his refusal to buckle in the face of adversity - a characteristic that shows up in a formidable 23-7 record in matches that have gone the five-set distance.

He has now won the last six.

"I think there's many things that go into winning matches like that," Murray said. "There's not one thing that's more important than another.

"Physically, you're strong, that helps for sure. But mentally, you know, today was a tough match. It would have been easy to have gotten very down on myself in that fifth set after the way the fourth set ended. I was happy with that.

"Then you also have to be able to play good tennis in the most important moments."

Murray laughed off suggestions that he is Britain's last hope of lifting the national political and sporting gloom this summer.

While he was battling into a seventh Wimbledon semifinal, Wales was losing to Portugal in the Euro 2016 semifinals to Portugal in Lyon.

Britain as a whole is in post-Brexit turmoil, with Prime Minister David Cameron planning to step down and the value of the pound plummeting. "It's not that bad, is it? Is it that bad?" asked Murray after his win.

"There's a lot more hopes left than me. I just try my best at this event to make all the people that watch happy.

"Hopefully I can win a couple more, and that's it."