Andy Murray to face Jerzy Janowicz in Wimbledon semi-final

Andy Murray goes into Friday's Wimbledon semi-final against 6ft 8in Jerzy Janowicz boosted by "gold dust" advice from Sir Alex Ferguson.

The world number two, hoping to become Britain's first male champion since 1936, plays the Polish 24th seed on Centre Court at about 16:30 BST.

Murray spoke to the former Manchester United boss after his quarter-final win over Fernando Verdasco on Wednesday.

"He was giving me some advice on how to handle certain pressures," Murray said.

Top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Argentine eighth seed Juan Martin Del Potro are first up on Centre Court in their semi-final at 13:00 BST.

In Murray's match:

• The Scot faces the biggest serve in the tournament;

• Janowicz heads the serving charts with 94 aces and a top speed of 140mph;

• The 22-year-old has been broken just four times in the tournament but Murray says "I won't be intimidated by him";

• Pole hopes Murray will feel the pressure "because Great Britain is waiting for the champion in Wimbledon";

• Centre Court is a 15,000 sell out, with another 4,000 on Murray Mount at Wimbledon and millions expected to watch on television.

Ahead of the match Murray spoke of his conversation with Ferguson.

The pair met in New York when Murray won the US Open last year and Ferguson, who won 38 trophies during his 26-year reign at Old Trafford before retiring in May, was a spectator on centre court for Murray's win over Verdasco.

During their chat on Wednesday Ferguson gave Murray advice on how to deal with the most difficult moments that sport can present.

"We spoke about a lot of things - about his retirement, about football and then at the end I spoke to him, not so much about the match, but about everything that goes with it," Murray said.

"Getting that sort of advice from someone like him is gold dust so I'm not going to be sharing too much of it."

Janowicz, Poland's first male Grand Slam semi-finalist, has a win over Murray, having saved a match point on his way to beating the Scot at the Paris Masters in November.

Murray, the second seed, believes his return will be key to his chances of reaching the final.

"That's always been one of the strengths of my game," Murray said in his BBC Sport column.

"I have to take every chance that comes my way. Janowicz might be a big guy with a big serve, but I won't be intimidated by him."

While the power of Janowicz's game is the obvious threat, Murray says there is more than just the serve and the forehand to worry about.

"He also has pretty good touch," said the world number two. "He likes to hit drop shots. He doesn't just whack every single shot as hard as he can. It will be a very tough match."

Murray, 26, needed five sets to get past Fernando Verdasco in the previous round, and he is looking for the Centre Court crowd to help him once again.

"When I went behind, the crowd definitely got right behind me and made a huge, huge difference," he said.

"If they can be like that from the first point to the last in all of the matches, it makes a huge difference."

Janowicz insisted he was not concerned by the prospect of having 15,000 spectators cheering for his opponent, saying: "For sure the crowd will not really help me, but we'll see how it's going to be.

"This is my first semi-final ever, so I don't know what to expect. I hope Andy will feel some kind of pressure.

"I'm sure he feels some kind of pressure because Great Britain is waiting for the champion in Wimbledon."

Djokovic, the 2011 champion, has yet to drop a set but will face Del Potro on the same court where he lost to the Argentine in last year's Olympic bronze medal match.

"That was a close match also, 'Delpo' is a great player," said the world number one, 26. "I have a great respect for him. He's a Grand Slam winner."

Del Potro is through to his first Wimbledon semi-final despite struggling with a knee injury that was not helped by a bad fall in his quarter-final win over David Ferrer.

"I will need to be 100% or 110% against [Djokovic]," said the Argentine. "He's the number one, he's a former champion here."