Andy Wins. But its Roddick not Murray.

The Sun went down slowly spreading a blanket of shadow all over the centre court and with it the British tennis hopes shattered and casted the pale of gloom all over Britain last evening when Andy Murray lost to veteran Andy Roddick 6-4, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 in the semi-finals of the men’s Wimbledon Championships.

So Queen Elizabeth’s long-awaited return to Wimbledon will have to wait; it looks as if, for one more year. Andy Murray, the young Briton she had hoped to watch from the Royal Box in Sunday’s final, will not be taking part in the festivities after all.

Murray came back one set down after losing the first to take the second triggering hopes of yet another Murray come back. Engaged the crowd beautifully and they responded with huge roars of cheer every time their home hero played a winner. But Murray’s remarkable, counterpunching game was not quite as lethal as usual, as Roddick put 75 percent of his first serves in play and cleverly picked his spots to attack instead of trying to batter his way past the lanky Scotsman on a point by point basis.

Murray couldn’t find answer to an inspired performance from Roddick. Perhaps Murray was passive and waited for Roddick to commit mistakes rather than forcing the veteran to make errors.

Clearly it was the case of succumbing to pressure as the whole of British media had built up the hype so much so that every journalist had started writing about the Federer-Murray finals. It certainly might have taken a toll on Murray and the effect was evident in his performance.

Before the match, Roddick was relaxed and at his usual best in the pre-match interviews, talked about how he has clearly moved to a higher plane. Last year at Wimbledon, he made his earliest exit, with a second round blow out to Janko Tipsaravic saving his best for the press, where he talked about the pain of becoming a second-tier player.

“When you’ve seen the Rolling Stones from the front row, and then all of a sudden you’re like, you know, seven or eight rows back and there’s a really tall guy in front of you waving his hands and screaming, you can’t see much,” Roddick said then. “It’s not going to be as good as the other shows.”

So what row is he in now?

“Getting closer,” Roddick said. “I can see what Mick Jagger is wearing now.”

Roddick cannot ask for more if British fans chant the first name of their home hero Murray on Centre Court at Wimbledon during the men’s finals on Sunday, where Andy Roddick intends to make the best of it.

Andy Roddick has met Roger Federer twice in the Wimbledon finals before and has lost both times. Can he be third time lucky?