Andy Murray Makes the Australian Open Final
Andy Murray came through in a tight match against the number 7 seed, David Ferrer to reach his third Major final and his second Australian Open Final in a row.
The nerves were obviously showing for Murray in the first set as he hit a large number of unforced errors into the net and Ferrer took a deserved lead.
Written off by most commentators as the underdog Ferrer certainly wasn’t playing like it as he controlled the baseline and the long rallies.
After Ferrer took the first set Murray had to wait until the second set to assert himself in a tie break as both players gave away points they would normally expect to win. Neither player really taking command of the match and it was difficult to call who would triumph at this point, it could have gone either way.
In the third set Murray began to gain some momentum and started to control the tempo of the match with an early break of serve. He then made a double break in game six and everything started to flow for him as he went, and crucially made his aggressive shots. He took the set 6-1.
In the 4th set Murray continued his run of good form,, but it didn’t last long and the errors began to creep back in again as he wasted an opportunity for a double break. Ferrer made the most of the opportunities that he was presented with and forced himself back onto even terms.
The momentum had shifted constantly through out the match but Ferrer’s serve started to let him down as the 4th set went into the tie break and Murray established a 5-1 lead as his serve fired him ahead.
After 3 hours and 45 minutes Murray finally made the shot, a half volley, that took him into the Australian Open final for the second time.
Obviously tired and with stiff muscles, Murray hobbled off the court to jump into an ice bath, and get himself fit for the clash on Sunday with his practice partner Novak Djokovic.
Photo: n.hewson
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