Melbourne: Iron-clad defence triumphed over all-out attack as Andy Murray overhauled Milos Raonic 4-6 7-5 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2 on Friday to book another Australian Open final against Melbourne Park nemesis Novak Djokovic.
World number two Murray came from behind twice to topple the rangy Canadian, who was troubled by a leg injury and finally capitulated after playing majestically for most of the four-hour and three-minute contest at a floodlit Rod Laver Arena.
After levelling the match at two sets-all, Murray broke Raonic in the opening game of the decider and the flustered 13th seed smashed his racket in frustration before promptly crumbling.
Murray roared on to close out the match with a dismissive crosscourt winner and reached his fifth final at Melbourne Park and fourth against the Serbian world number one.
“I started to get a slightly better read on his serve later on and that was the key,” Murray, beaten by Djokovic in last year’s final, said in a courtside interview.
“He definitely slowed down in the fifth set for sure which was unfortunate for him,” the Scot said of Raonic’s injury.
“I obviously got a bit lucky on that, but you just try to focus on your side of the court.” Murray’s four previous trips to the final have all ended in heartbreak, but he will have taken heart from his fighting comeback and ability to defuse Raonic’s overwhelming power game.
A match pitting one of the game’s finest servers against a returning maestro promised fireworks, but few would have tipped Raonic to break his opponent to love in the opening game.
The 25-year-old saved three break points in the next game then held the advantage to close out the set with a huge serve down the ‘T’.
Having missed break-point chances at 1-0 and 3-2 in the second set, Murray had to bide his time, but he kicked the door open with a brilliant crosscourt passing shot to set up a set point at 6-5.
The Canadian chanced a serve-volley but netted Murray’s sharp return and the Scot pumped his fist in delight.
The tension kept rising as the third set went into a tiebreaker, and Raonic pounced on a weak second serve from Murray to take a 3-1 lead.
Serving masterfully, Raonic nervelessly rocketed a smash that clipped the line to reach 5-2 before closing out the marathon 58-minute set with an ace.
Though the Rod Laver Arena rumbled with the threat of an upset, Raonic barely celebrated and marched straight off court.
He exited again after holding serve to lead 2-1, taking a medical time-out for treatment on an adductor muscle injury to his right leg but he jogged back out onto court and appeared untroubled.
That was until the seventh game, when he was broken to love in an error-strewn game as Murray ramped up his returning game.
Raonic grimaced under more attention from the trainer after holding serve to trail 5-4. But he shrugged off the injury to raise two chances to break back.
Murray saved them both and blasted a serve down the ‘T’ to level the match.
Having appeared a model of composure, Raonic finally showed the strain and smashed his racket into the blue hard-court after being swiftly broken in the opening game of the decider.
“I was going to fight and see what I could make of it, but it wasn’t looking that great,” said a gloomy Raonic.
“It’s just I couldn’t push off (my leg). I couldn’t get up to serve and I couldn’t change direction. That was the difficult part.” Murray’s focus never wavered as he roared to a 4-0 lead.
After punching an exquisite backhand volley to bring up three match points, the Scot hammered the winning crosscourt forehand to savour one of his finest wins at Melbourne Park.
However, it appears Murray has had enough drama — he will not be watching his brother Jamie play in the Australian Open men’s doubles final on Saturday, claiming it is too stressful.
But he and his older sibling have become the first brothers to reach the finals in both the singles and doubles championships at a Grand Slam tournament in the Open era.
Andy Murray said that their “parents will be extremely proud. There’s not many tennis players that come out of Scotland.”
Collated results on Friday:
Men’s singles
Semi-final
Andy Murray (GBR x2) bt Milos Raonic (CAN x13) 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2
Women’s doubles
Final
Martina Hingis (SUI)/Sania Mirza (IND x1) bt Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)/Lucie Hradecka (CZE x7) 7-6 (7/1), 6-3
