Wimbledon 2012: day nine – in pictures

Not only does Andy Murray have the pressure of an expectant nation on his shoulders ahead of his quarter-final, there's also royalty in the Centre Court Royal Box today Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Also in the Royal Box are England manager Roy Hodgson and Michael Parkinson Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Tennis royalty was also present: Roger Federer was taking on Mikhail Youzhny in the men's singles quarter-final Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian The No3 seed started strongly and breezed through the first set 6-1 Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Youzhny's lot improved slightly in the second set – he only lost that 6-2 Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Such was Federer's dominance, Youzhny resorted to asking for advice from Andre Agassi, who was sitting in the front row of the Royal Box Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Even that didn't help the No26 seed as the former champion brushed him aside in the third to register a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 win. The victory puts Federer into a record 33rd grand slam semi-final where he will face defending champion Novak Djokovic Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Next up on Centre Court is Spain's David Ferrer ... Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Against Britain's Andy Murray. His girlfriend Kim Sears is there complete with patriotic mobile phone case ready to cheer him on Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Ferrer starts the stronger of the two players and after breaking Murray in the fourth game he goes on to be serving for the set. Murray breaks back and then service games are won to take the first set to a tie-break Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Ferrer takes the tie-break 7-5 Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian He's rather chuffed with that Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Murray on the other will be disappointed with his unforced errors in the tie-break Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian The second set is a tight affair with both players taking their service games until the eighth game when Ferrer breaks Murray again. Murray breaks back in the next game and then two games later we head into another tie-break Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian This time it's Murray who prevails. The match is all square - one set all Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian That pleases the home crowd including these lookalikes. Agassi, McEnroe, Nadal are easy to guess. It's a tad more difficult to put your finger on who the chap on the left and the cheeky "lady" in the centre are meant to be Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Both players are in sparkling form in the third set but Murray gets his nose infront when his 12th ace gives him a 2 set to 1 lead Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian The fourth set is tied at five games all when the rain comes down. The match referee decides not to put the roof on Centre Court and instead wait until the shower passes Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Just twenty minutes later the players are back out. Given how tight this match has been the fourth set, rather unsurprisingly, goes to a tie-break too Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian Which Murray wins to record a 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 7-6 victory that takes him into the semi-finals for the fourth consecutive year Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian His semi-final opponent is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The form book favours Murray as he leads Tsonga 5-1 in head-to-head games. If the No3 seed does overcome the hurdle of a 6ft 2in, 200lb Frenchman then he'll be the first British male to make a Wimbledon final appearance since Bunny Austin in 1938 Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian