by Lisa-Marie Burrows
In an enduring survival of the fittest semifinal between world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and world No. 4 Andy Murray, both players fought, struggled and left their hearts out on the tennis court after they produced an epic semifinal lasting just under five hours on Rod Laver Arena on Friday. Djokovic, the defending champion, eventually nudged out the victory 6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 6-1, 7-5 to book his place into the final to set up an electrifying showdown with world No.2 Rafael Nadal on Sunday.
This year’s semifinal match between the two was a far cry different contest to the Australian Open final match of last year, where Murray was easily defeated in three straight sets. This time around, the match was full of exquisite shots, dogged determination and nail biting penultimate points which required Djokovic to strike 184 winners to dispatch of Murray – but not without a fight.
The first two sets demonstrated the quality of play and the incredible physicality of the athletes as they were engaged in frequent 40-shot rallies to win a single point. The sets went down to a few deciding points as Djokovic took the first set and Murray grasped the second.
It was all to play for in the third set as the momentum of the match swung direction between both players and it became apparent that a tiebreak was imminent. The players were neck and neck with each other and either player had a chance of stealing the set, but it was the 4th seeded Murray whose courage withstood the test and secured him the two sets to one advantage.
Undeterred by losing the third set, Djokovic did not step back on court despondent, in fact losing a valuable opportunity of the advantage seemed to set fire to the belly of the Serb as he immediately broke Murray in the opening game and went on to break him a further one more time to level the match two sets all after a rapid 25-minutes.
As predicted, the match came down to the wire and what a thin line it was for Murray. The Scot was suddenly staring defeat in the face as he found himself 2-5 down and a game away from exiting the tournament, but somehow Murray used his energy reserves to crawl his way back into the match and kept his dream of ousting the world No.1 alive. This hope was short lived and a shattered Murray could not withstand the Serbinator in the 11th game, as he watched a crosscourt forehand soar past him and a jubilated Djokovic fall to the fall with relief, happiness and exhaustion.
On Sunday, Djokovic will seek to add another Grand Slam to his collection and succeed in claiming his third major in a row and a third title in Melbourne. The talented Serb will square up once more against Spanish No.1 and former Australian Open champion, Rafael Nadal.
All is not lost for Murray who courageously engrossed in his longest ever career match which lasted just under five hours in a highly competitive, edge of the seat, heart banging match with so much at stake for both players. Murray may feel disappointed having lost the match and critics may continue to discuss whether he will ever claim an elusive Grand Slam, but what must be remembered is that the Scot did not lose to an average player – he lost to the world’s best player. With the wise words of new coach Ivan Lendl in his mind, this could very much be the world No.4s year – and what an exciting 2012 it could be after this epic semifinal match. Would we like to see more toe-to-toe battles featuring “Murrovic”? Oh, yes please!