A cool head in tiebreakers and an ability to change playing style mid-match has given Britain's Andy Murray the edge he needed to overcome Spain's David Ferrer and progress to his 2nd consective Australian Open final.
The 5th seed Scot won in four entertaining sets, 4-6 7-6 6-1 7-6, to book a meeting with world number three Novak Djokovic on Sunday.
In what was arguably one of the most entertaining sets of singles in the last two weeks, both men found themselves running from side to side as long, dynamic rallies were being dished out one after the other.
Ferrer broke serve when it mattered most, ahead 5-4 in the first set.
A convincing win in the second set tiebreak and a fresh set of strings, however, saw both a change in scoreline and mentality from the Scotsman.
Not even an injury scare in the early moments of the third set could stop Murray from playing his shots. On the contrary, it forced him to start playing for winners, which suddenly put his opponent on the back foot.
Although Ferrer managed to find his way back into the match in the fourth set, Murray always found an answer and began varying his game shot by shot.
The meeting with Djokovic will be the first time the two have met during a Grand Slam.
Murray described the final match-up as one that could possibly deliver a 'brutal' match, but knows what he is up against. "We're good friends. We trained a lot in Perth (and) practiced four or fives times together over there."
The first set was packed full of thirty-plus rallies, with both players adopting a strong baseline game from the outset.
It made for entertaining tennis, as the players pushed each other side to side the entire set.
The tension increased a touch, even in the literal sense, when Ferrer took a the opening set, forcing Murray to make a change in his racquet strings to find the edge he needed to fight back.
"He was dictating all the points, (so)... I changed racquet tension," he said post-match. "I could hit through the ball much better. In the second set I started playing my shots."
Murray made a potentially match-saving play when he saved a set point when down 5-4 in the second set, but perhaps without even knowing it.
"I thought it was 4-3" he joked after the match. "That probably helped me."
The change in style became even more clear when the Scot appeared to be gripping a sore left quad muscle at the start of the third set. He was clearly in no mood to be run around much longer.
Where the second set Murray was hitting through the ball cleaner, the third set Murray was finding the lines and the winners as well.
A critical point of the match was when Murray finally consolidated a break to go ahead 3-1 in the set. He used the momentum to take the following three games.
Despite a late scare in the form of a Ferrer fightback, the Spaniard again crumbled in the tiebreak situation, gifting Murray the passage through to the last stage.
"It was a pretty physical match. My body was feeling it towards the end," said Murray.
In other matches today, top seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta won their first Grand Slam doubles title with victory in three sets over Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko. The World number 1 and 2 doubles players, respectively, overcame their opponents 2-6, 7-5, 6-1/
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