Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin ousted third seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(11), 6-7(1), 10-8 on Wednesday to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals. The French duo could not capitalise on their three match point opportunities – at 6/5, 8/7 and 11/10 – in the third-set tie-break as the British/Brazilian pair stretched the match to a fourth set. Finally in the fifth set, Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin broke for a 9-8 lead before closing out victory to love. The unseeded team saved five of the six break points they faced to prevail in a lengthy four-hour, 30-minute battle.

Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin next face No. 11 seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, who topped three-time Wimbledon champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 7-6(2), 6-1, 7-6(4). Klaasen and Ram did not face a break point and capitalised on both of their own break chances to reach the final four in one hour and 43 minutes.

Top seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut needed four sets to reach the last four. The French pair beat No. 10 seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-6(8), saving six of the seven break points they faced to reach the semi-finals.

With the win by Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin, Mahut will return to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings on Monday.

Herbert and Mahut next face Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi, the No. 12 seeds, who beat former Wimbledon doubles champion Jonathan Marray and his partner, Adil Shamasdin, 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-3. Mirnyi, who was celebrating his 39^th birthday, and his partner hit 11 winners, eight of them aces, en route to the semi-finals.

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Andy Murray overcame a fiery Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(10), 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1 in almost four hours on Wednesday to sprint into the Wimbledon semi-finals, where he’ll be the favourite to reach his third final at the All-England Club.

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Murray will face Czech Tomas Berdych, who swept first-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist Lucas Pouille 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-2. Murray leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 8-6, including their past four meetings, but the two have never played on grass. Berdych also reached the Wimbledon final in 2010.

“He’s a big guy who serves well. When he’s dictating the points, he hits a big, big ball,” Murray said. “Ideally, I don’t want to have him dictating all of the points because then I’ll be doing a lot of running.”

Murray looked like he’d waltz into his seventh Wimbledon semi-final and continue his perfect sets record this fortnight. The Scot grabbed a tight first set on his fourth opportunity and denied Tsonga three set point chances. The Frenchman didn’t regroup in time for the second, either, and Murray dashed to a two-set lead, pushing his Wimbledon set record to 14-0.

Tsonga responded strongly in the third and fourth sets, though. He blasted winners from both sides and landed a high percentage of first serves. The 31 year old hit 14 winners and 15 winners in the third and fourth sets, respectively, compared to three in the second set. He also won nearly 80 per cent of his first-serve points in the third and fourth sets, compared to just 57 per cent in the second set.

Tsonga broke Murray at 2-1 to take the third set. In the fourth set, Murray was serving at 4-all, 40/40 when Tsonga belted a run-around forehand winner and a backhand pass for the break. The two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist held to 15 to even the match at two sets apiece, and the Centre Court crowd roar had been muted.

“Jo played great,” Murray said. “He was serving well. He was returning very well. He was mixing the pace up, playing with a lot of variety, coming forward, hitting his forehand big. He came up with some great passing shots.”

A comeback was not unforeseeable. Tsonga had overcome a 0-2 sets deficit four times in his career, including earlier this fortnight. In the third round, Tsonga beat American John Isner 6-7(3), 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 19-17.

But Murray would not be denied in the fifth set. He stepped into the court more often and continued to encourage the British crowd. The second seed overcame a break point in the first game and minutes later was up 4-0. “To get that [first] hold and just be ahead again was big,” Murray said. “I was up 4-2 [in the fourth set], had lost four games in a row at that point. Pretty much all of them were tough, tough games to lose.”

The 2013 Wimbledon champion sealed the five-set win with an ace and fist pump of relief.

“I came back strong in the third and fourth, but I didn’t play well in the fifth,” Tsonga said. “Andy was a little better than me in the last set.”

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Roger Federer has climbed back into his Wimbledon quarter-final contest against Marin Cilic, staving off three match points to force a decider on Centre Court on Wednesday 6-7(4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(9).

The two played an enthralling fourth-set tie-break that saw Federer save one match point and Cilic erase four set points. But the seven-time Wimbledon champion evened the contest on his serve.

It was a back-and-forth tie-break in which Federer led 6-4 and both players showed resolve to push it to 20 points. Now Federer will try to continue his comeback and achieve what has never happened: Cilic is 51-0 at Grand Slam championships when taking the first two sets. Coming back from two sets down is familiar to Federer, though. He’s done it nine times in his career.

In the third set, Federer stayed in the match by breaking the Croat for the first time when Cilic double faulted on break point at 3-4 in the third. The Swiss star then served out the set. During the first two sets, Federer had been 0 for 3 on break points.

For the first two sets, Cilic had been pushing Federer around the court, often landing a first serve in the 125 miles per hour range and seizing play with a directed groundstroke. He won 87 per cent of his first-serve points during the first two sets. At 3-all in the third set, the 6’6″ right-hander also had three break points to go up 4-3. But Federer reeled off five straight points and has continued that momentum.

Both players have looked to practise quick-strike tennis during their seventh FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. Strong first serve, aggressive next shot. Cilic was dictating play in the beginning, often looking untouchable. But Federer has picked up his play, serving and volleying and charging the net more often against the Croat. The fan favourite also has used the crowd to his benefit.