In a match that started as a thriller in the offing, Rafael Nadal took the level of his game to new heights to breeze past Andy Murray for a place in his fifth Wimbledon final, season's third Grand Slam event being played here at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in London, England.

Click here to relive Nadal's best moments in the match.

Nadal opened the match on a competitive note and kept control of his serves till the 12th game when Murray, with the help of his blistering backhand returns, broke Nadal to snatch the first set 7-5. 

The second set saw an instant shift in momentum when Nadal broke Murray's serve twice to wrap up the 36 minute set by 6-2 scoreline. Similar story was repeated in the third set as well where, despite hitting lesser number of winners, Nadal kept the error count to minimum to race to a two sets to love lead.

The fourth set gave Nadal a favourable position in the contest with a break in the very first game which he duly maintained it till the end to post a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 win in two hours and 59 minutes of play.

Murray never seemed like a match to Nadal and despite winning the first set in impressive fashion, saw his game plan fall like a house of cards.

Nadal hit a total of 37 winners in the match to a surprising 42 from Murray, but also capitalised on the 39 unforced errors committed by the Scot. Murray also served 15 aces as compared to Nadal's 6 but failed to raise his level of play on key points.

Nadal will meet Novak Djokovic in the final now who battled past Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-7(9), 6-3 in three hours and 7 minutes of play earlier today.

With the win, Djokovic has already replaced Nadal for the top spot in ATP rankings when they are released on Monday, July 4th.

Both Nadal and Djokovic have already contested four finals this year with Djokovic winning all of them in Indian Wells, Miami, Rome and Madrid. Nadal still leads the career head-to-head 16-11 and has won 10 of the 12 previous major final appearances, losing only two times to Roger Federer in 2006 and 2007 Wimbledon finals.