Andy Murray downs Ferrer to enter Australian Open final

Andy Murray recovered from a set down against David Ferrer yesterday to set up an Australian Open final against Novak Djokovic, where he will aim to break Britain's 75-year men's Grand Slam drought.


Hip, hip, murray! Andy Murray of Great Britain reacts after beating David
Ferrer of Spain 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) in the Australian Open semi-
finals at Melbourne Park yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

After a slow start, Murray won 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) to advance to his second straight Australian final, as he aims to go one better than last year's straight sets loss to Roger Federer.

Sunday's title match will be the British fifth seed's third Grand Slam final overall as he seeks to breakthrough for his first major trophy.

He is bidding to become the first British man to win a Grand Slam since Fred Perry in 1936. Perry was also the last British player to win the Australian Open, in 1934. Last year Murray was the first Briton since John Lloyd in 1977 to play in an Australian Open final.

Yesterday, Murray got so wrapped up in the hard-fought semi-final that he forgot the scoreu00a0-- and saved a crucial set point without knowing it. Murray said he hadn't realised he was a set point down in the second set, which he came back to win and level the match.

Murray (23) thought he was serving at 3-4 down, rather than 4-5, when he came up with an unplayable serve to deny Ferrer a break. He said he was stunned when he realised the Spaniard had been just one point from taking the set.

"It wasn't until the umpire called 5-5 that I realised that, yeah, I just saved a set point," he said. I was obviously a bit surprised. But you need to sort of get back into focusing. It was quite a big stage of the match.
"It hadn't really happened to me that often before.

But sometimes when you're in the match, you sort of get in a bubble, in a zone. Normally you know exactly what the score is, but tonight I obviously didn't," said Murray extended his current winning streak to nine matches and dropped only his second set of the tournament against the tenacious Ferrer.