Murray has Britain's tennis hopes with him

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LONDON, July 2 (UPI) -- Andy Murray heads to Friday's Wimbledon men's semifinals with the hopes of all of Britain riding with him.

Murray, ranked No. 3 in the world, is looking to be the first British player since Fred Perry to win the men's singles title. Perry won Wimbledon by defeating Gottfried von Cramm in a 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 rout. But that was in 1936 and it's been a long dry spell for fans of British men's tennis since.

Murray's next step in trying to end that drought is Friday when he plays sixth-seeded Andy Roddick. The other match Friday also has history riding on it as No. 2-seeded Roger Federer, who owns a record-tying 14 Grand Slam titles, meets 24th-seeded Tommy Haas.

Only Federer, who won titles each year from 2003-07, among the four semifinalists has won at Wimbledon.

Murray has had a good tournament. Although his fourth-round match was a five-setter, he rebounded well in Wednesday's quarterfinals. Roddick has also played consistently well but he'll be coming off a tough five-set quarterfinal match with Lleyton Hewitt. Murray owns a 6-2 edge in matches against Roddick.

Federer has won nine of the 11 times he's played Haas. But the last time they played Haas put a scare into Federer by taking a two-set advantage in a French Open match before Federer rallied.