Andy Murray aware of Tsonga threat

Andy Murray admits he will have to raise his game to get past French fourth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals at Queen’s Club on Saturday.

Murray moved into the last four of the pre-Wimbledon warm-up event with a solid 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) victory over Germany’s Benjamin Becker on Friday, but the world number two acknowledged it would need a more dynamic effort to subdue the sublimely talented Tsonga.

While top seed Murray hasn’t dropped a set in his first three matches at Queen’s, Tsonga will pose by far his sternest test yet and the US Open champion is relishing the challenge.

“It will be a big step up and also a really big test for me, because he’s been playing some great tennis the last couple of months,” Murray said.

“He obviously had a very good run at the French Open and he’s a top grass court player. He’s one of the best in the world on this surface.

“I have had some tough matches with him on the grass before, so tomorrow will be the same.

“Jo plays a pretty good all court game. He comes in to net more than most of the players. He’s a tough player.”

Murray is a good friend of Tsonga’s and even gave the flamboyant Frenchman a ride on his private jet recently as the two travelled from the Madrid Masters to a tournament in Rome.

But, with Wimbledon looming in just over a week, Murray knows a victory over Tsonga would be the perfect boost ahead of his latest assault on the All England Club.

He has a superb record against the world number seven, having beaten him in seven of their eight meetings.

Murray’s only loss to Tsonga came back in 2008 at the Australian Open and since then he has defeated him in the 2011 Queen’s final and last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals.

“All the matches this week are going to be tough because I haven’t played a match for a month,” Murray said.

“There’s going to be moments in the matches where your level drops a little bit.

“That’s happened the last couple of matches. With playing more matches I’ll avoid those slip ups.

“It’s also the first week on the grass as well. All of the guys have had dips in matches and in sets. It happens.

“But it’s important to go through them and come out the other side of them with a win. I managed to do that the last couple of days.”

smg/nr