Rafael Nadal, Tomas Berdych advance to Wimbledon men’s final

Reporting from Wimbledon, England — He whacked his forehand, powered his backhand and frolicked around Centre Court with such vigor that even the British fans who were so eager for a signature victory by one of their own, Andy Murray, couldn’t help it. They had to give Nadal a standing ovation.

Even having David Beckham in the crowd couldn’t help Scotland’s Murray become the first man from the United Kingdom since 1938 to make it to the final. Instead, it was Nadal who won, 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-4, and advanced to his fourth Wimbledon final.

Nadal, seeded No. 2 but already ranked No. 1 in the world, never gave fourth-seeded Murray much hope. He used his monstrous groundstrokes with precision and fell onto his back with joy after Murray’s last, hopeless volley went well out.

Nadal’s opponent in Sunday’s final will be 12th-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

Berdych, who upset defending champion and six-time Wimbledon winner Roger Federer in the quarterfinals, was equally overpowering in his 6-3, 7-6 (9), 6-3 win over third-seeded Novak Djokovic. His ability to make Djokovic, the 2008 Australian Open winner, run out of breath by the end of the second set made the Serbian shrug his shoulders in surrender.

But it is Nadal who infused Centre Court with joy and caused Murray to seem unaggressive, especially after he lost the second-set tiebreaker.

Nadal, who won his first Wimbledon championship in 2008 but was unable to defend the title because of a knee injury, said, “For me, today was an amazing day. That was a very important victory for me, one of the more difficult victories of my career because the opponent was playing well.”

There was only one moment when it seemed Nadal might be in for a fight.

At 5-5 in the second-set tiebreaker, Nadal double-faulted, giving Murray a set point. The crowd roared and Murray had a serve to tie the match at 1-1 and perhaps move momentum to his side for good.

But Nadal responded with possibly the best point of the match, a backhanded crosscourt volley winner. Murray was left helpless and Nadal pumped his fists and howled with a release of both energy and excitement.

Murray was almost emotionless as he described Nadal’s construction of that set-saving point.

“He hit a big forehand. Hit a good pass. He hit a great angle volley to finish. And he hit a let-cord passing shot on the next point too. You know, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

The first set had been close. The only service break came in the ninth game, and it was a Nadal forehand winner that gave him the break point. Murray handed Nadal the advantage easily on the next point with a forehand error. That equaled the total number of unforced errors Nadal committed in the first set.

This victory earned Nadal a chance to win his eighth major title. Roger Federer, who has a record 16 Grand Slams, won his eighth when he was 24, the age Nadal is now.

After his win, Nadal had a brief meeting with Beckham.

“What I admire about him a lot is that when he’s in the stadium, he fights like the best of them,” Nadal said, “more than the rest.”

Berdych might need some rejuvenation if he is to threaten the Spaniard’s energetic play.

“I was quite tired since the morning,” Berdych said, adding that he felt a lack of energy before playing Djokovic.

Nadal has a 7-3 career advantage over Berdych, including a 6-4, 7-6 (4) win in the quarterfinals at Indian Wells in March. Nadal said Berdych is having an “amazing” tournament. Murray used the same word to describe Nadal’s run so far.

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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