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Disbelief and dismay, the dog days of the Wimbledon semi-final curse struck again in the Centre Court shadows yesterday, when Andy Murray, the best player produced upon these shores in many a long year, was beaten by Andy Roddick, who happened to choose this day to play the best match of his life. Curse these foreign chaps.

For Tim Henman, it was Lleyton Hewitt, Pete Sampras and Goran Ivanisevic who stuck like gum to his tennis shoes; Roger Taylor could not contend with Ken Rosewall, Jan Kodes, or Wilhelm Bungert and so the story goes on. And on.

“I never thought I would get a chance to play for another grand-slam title and now I can, it’s just a dream,” Roddick said. “He [Murray] has been a much better player than I have over the past year, but I can play some tennis sometimes, too.”

For Murray, who lost 6-4, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, the task was just too much; he did give his all, although he never looked really happy yesterday. These matches test people like no other. Ultimately, it was Roddick’s savvy, not something he has always been given credit for, that won the day. And so Roger Federer’s attempt to win a record-breaking fifteenth grand-slam singles title tomorrow will be against the player over whom he holds an 18-2 advantage in matches played, including victories in the Wimbledon finals of 2004 and 2005, when Roddick took one set from seven. One can only hope, for his sake, that the 26-year-old can rediscover the brilliance of his performance yesterday.

Larry Stefanki, the American’s coach, had intimated that his charge might adopt a conservative approach, play more cagily than would have been his headstrong norm when Jimmy Connors or Brad Gilbert were urging him to use his bull-like frame to impose himself. Stefanki’s regime has been to play smart and play it cool. Roddick stuck to that approach rigidly and responsibly yesterday.

After his five-set, quarter-final victory over Hewitt, when he struck 43 aces, Roddick said that he was in better shape at 26 than he had been at 24 and felt that having been extended so far by the Australian would not be a factor against Murray.

Stefanki said he was astonished at how well his charge had recovered the next day. “And if he gets a bad shout or a bad call against Murray, he has to remember that it is old news,” the coach said. “I’ve told him he has to find a way of filing them \. He’s got to let any bad situations go by.”

All of which made life tough for Murray, who is usually the master technician. He would have preferred it had Roddick made himself more of a target, leapt up the court, and been played around with by Murray’s backcourt nous.

There was a strange atmosphere all round, not helped because when the pair came out into the sunlight, there were only 12 people inside the Royal Box to greet them. The tea and cucumber sandwiches between semifinals must have been of the highest order.

Roddick served a 140mph ace in his opening game, to which Murray responded in his with strikes of 124 and 130. But, as the opening set continued, it was clear that Murray was not his usual, dependable self; he was missing on both flanks, but especially the forehand, strokes on which he would normally be ultra-secure.

Roddick, on the other hand, was not missing, mixing drives and delicacies in equal measure, not least when he broke to take the set. At 30-all, a two-handed thunderer down the line was followed by a backhand volley — that shot has improved out of all recognition — and another clubbed backhand induced a forehand into the net. The protagonists both went for a break — and that does not happen very often after one set of any men’s tennis.