Andy Murray will face Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Wimbledon semi-final today, as he bids to become the first Brit to reach a men's singles final since Bunny Austin in 1938.
Murray, seeded fourth, came through a dramatic four-setter against David Ferrer on Wednesday to reach his fourth successive SW19 semi-final.
The Scot, 25, has been thwarted by Andy Roddick (2009) and Rafael Nadal on past occasions, but the latter's shock defeat to Czech Republican Lukas Rosol last week has paved way for an encounter with Tsonga.
Playing at Wimbledon for a seventh time this year, Murray admits he now acknowledges the aura of the competition.
"I didn't necessarily appreciate that the first time I played because you're just a kid," he told the Press Association.
"It's something new for you. You're excited to play on Centre Court. It wasn't until I played a lot of matches there that I started to understand how special a court it was."
Standing at 6ft 5ins, the Le Mans-born Tsonga beat German Philipp Kohlschreiber in four sets two days ago also, as he gets ready to face Murray for a second time at the Championships.
In 2010 the duo met one another in the quarter-finals, with Murray recovering after a nervy start to win 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 6-2 in two hours and 48 minutes.
MURRAY TAKES MATCH POINT AGAINST TSONGA IN 2010
Murray also boasts an auspicious record against fifth-seed Tsonga, having won five of their six encounters.
The match also marks Tsonga's second successive semi-final at SW19, after he came back from two sets down against Roger Federer in last year's quarter-final.
He did however lose to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in four sets in the last four. Djokovic will take on Federer in the first semi on Centre Court at 1300pm.
A crowd favourite wherever he plays, Tsonga admits Friday's match will be an exception.
"It will be a totally different match against Andy. It'll be madness," PA reported him as saying.
"Almost all the crowd will be with him. I will have nothing to lose, the pressure will be on him. We're at a new stage of the tournament now. I'm going to try to play it with a light heart."
Britain's Bunny Austin was defeated by American Don Budge in 1938, two years after Fred perry - the last British men's single winner at Wimbledon - conquered German Gottfried von Cramm for a second consecutive year.
The last British singles winner at Wimbledon was Virginia Wade in 1977 - the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee.