Britain’s Andy Murray has clinched a place in what will be his 4th Australian Open final; after comfortably beating Tomas Berdych 6-7 (6-8) 6-0 6-3 7-5. He will face either Novak Djokovic or Stan Wawrinka – who play their semi final on Friday. Assuming the other semi-final goes to form; Murray will find himself in a 3rd Australian Open Final against Djokovic – having lost the previous 2. With Wawrinka still in contention; Murray and Djokovic are 13/8 and 8/13 respectively for this year’s title at Coral bookmakers.
Before the match there had been much discussion of the fact that Berdych (ranked 7th in Men’s Singles) had teamed up with Murray’s former coach Dani Vallverdu; with suggestions that Vallverdu’s experience would give Berdych a competitive advantage in what was projected to be a close match.
As the match commenced it seemed there might be something to that speculation; as Murray failed to find his typical rhythm during the 1st set; Berdych breaking in the 8th game to fo 5-3 up and just needing to serve out for the set. A furious Murray bounced back however, immediately re-breaking and holding serve; though it would come to nothing as several infuriating errors in the resulting tie break allowed Berdych to take it 8-6.
Andy Murray of old might have given into frustration at this point; sulking about the court and allowing the match to slip from his grasp. However under former coach Ivan Lendl; Murray has clearly learned how to control, or at least channel, his frustrations more effectively; leading to the resurgent onslaught witnessed in the 2nd set.
With Berdych first to serve in the 2nd; Murray produced some fabulous shots to immediately break and never looked back; Berdych crumbled under relentless pressure; barely threatening to win a game until 5-0 down; before losing 6-0.
Berdych recovered somewhat in the interval; but again never showed much of the character required to turn these situations around; gifting Murray a break in the 6th game which was gratefully accepted; Murray then held to close out the 4th 6-3.
A similar story unfolded in the last set; although Murray did present his opponent with several opportunities they were all squandered. Murray didn’t return the favour, jumping on two unforced errors and a double fault from Berdych in game 11 to break and end the contest with a faultless game on serve.
After a largely faultless performance in the semi-final; Murray will be bolstered by confidence and less troubled than his potential opponents by fatigue (he has only dropped 2 sets en route to the final). However he knows that neither of his potential opponents will keel over in the way Berdych unfortunately did; and we can expect a magnificent contest for the title on Sunday!