If there was bonhomie to leaven the intensity of the first semi-final of this 127th Wimbledon, a match in keeping with the sunshine, there was edge and controversy in the evening as Andy Murray withstood the growling challenge of young Jerzy Janowicz to reach his second final here, his third in nine months against Novak Djokovic.
The Pole with the feared right arm – wreathed in tape to ease the pain of belting 94 aces before this penultimate match of the men's tournament – augmented his rock-faced persona with a deep-throated roar for the two hours and 52 minutes it lasted but could not stop Murray winning 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. The world No 2 lost the first set through carelessness, came back from 1-4 down in the third and pulled away with plenty to spare in the fourth.
That was some performance – and some opponent. As John McEnroe said of Janowicz, who will move up from 22 in the world: "No doubt, he's the real deal." But not quite as real as Murray – yet.
So long did Djokovic's earlier five-set war with Juan Martín del Potro last that by the time Murray and Janowicz got on court the early-evening shadows were gobbling up the grass. (Who knew then how the heavens would come into play later?) The Serb took with him not just the warmth, literal and spiritual, but some of the adrenaline, as a crowd earlier driven towards ecstasy fought their own battle with burn-out, and that did Murray no favours against a 22-year-old, driven opponent bristling with attitude.
Just as one dynasty slowly crystalises to replace the ebbing rivalry of absent friends, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, so an interloper arrives. Janowicz looks at home in this company, more so than Grigor Dimitrov whose glamour obscures deficiencies still to be tidied up.
The Pole, who has a less complicated game, has fewer faults than the Bulgarian although probably more double faults, as do all the ultra-power servers.
Coming into the match, he figured prominently in two lists: top of the aces, with 94, and second in double faults, with 26. He would add to both here and he would not flinch from trusting his best weapon, sending down his serves at more than 140 miles an hour from above the chair umpire's eye-line.
At 4-5 and two set points against him after just over half an hour, Janowicz held with two huge second serves, signalling that he was not overawed by the event, the setting or the opponent. He gave Murray more than the odd hard look as he let his daggers fly to force a tie-break, a place where one would imagine a server of his strength would be most comfortable, even though this year he had won 11 of them and lost 10; Murray's count was 14-5. Down 0-4 after an abominable volley, Murray double-faulted to surrender the set.
Janowicz was hugely encouraged now to imagine he could shock thetennis world but, when Murray drove a volley at him, Lendl-like, in the first game of the second set (and it stayed in), the Pole spun out of the way and simmered – then served two double faults to drop serve.
With the help of his third ace, Janowicz saved two break points to hold in the fifth game but blew two on Murray's serve. Frustration followed impatience, breeding looseness. Janowicz had three break points in the eighth game, but could not crack the Murray wall.
At 4-5 and about to serve, Janowicz asked the chair umpire, Jake Garner, why the under-eaves lights were coming on. Murray, who has seen it all before, served out the set to level, unperturbed and relaxed. As Murray took a comfort break, Janowicz again asked about the greying skies and if the roof would be drawn across. No, he was told, there was at least an hour's natural light left.
There was a sense, as in his come-from-behind win over Fernando Verdasco in the quarter-finals, that Murray was slowly gaining control of mind and muscle.
"It's too dark for me," Janowicz asked the umpire again three games into the third set, about 8.10pm. "Please explain. What are we waiting for, rain?" As his temper shortened, his focus sharpened. He twirled his racket waiting for Murray's serve and sealed the break with a sublime crosscourt drop shot, one of many. Janowicz could see the ball all right now, apparently. Murray, though, did not see much of Janowicz's 100th ace of the tournament, nor the 101st, and the Pole led 4-1.
Then, breaking back with an athletic running forehand that further dispelled any doubts about his injured back, he turned to the crowd and demanded more noise. He got it in spades. Janowicz? He asked about the roof again. Murray aced him three times and held to love for 4-4. Janowicz, outfoxed to 0-30, banged the net with his racket and was booed, now a bona fide stage villain. He double-faulted to hand Murray three break points, hit long and Murray was back on top.
Serving for the set, Murray took a meaty smash in the ribs for deuce, before clinching it with an ace. This was rapid-fire drama. Then, as Janowicz, took a breather in the locker room, having lost five games in a row, the referee, Andrew Jarrett, after consulting Garner, told Murray he was closing the roof. He was not happy.
"You can't close it now, man!" Murray shouted. "It's light until 9.30. He's been complaining about it for the last 40 minutes – ridiculous, it's not even dark. This is an outdoor tournament – I don't understand these rules.
"I know it's two sets to one but there's at least 45 minutes to one hour left of tennis [possible in this light] — not one of the sets has taken longer than that. This is not fair. He's been complaining about it. The only reason we're stopping is because of him. How long has he been complaining about the darkness? It's not even dark. it's completely light."
However, when they returned 30 minutes later (and they more than likely could not have finished in that time), it certainly was dark enough to have the roof on. So maybe it wasn't that bad a call by Jarrett.
It did not matter. Janowicz was more unsettled by the rhythm of the match and Murray was in control of his considerable anger. He broke early in the fourth. Janowicz hit his 10th and 11th double faults. Murray hit a forehand winner and was through. They hugged. They always do.
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