Murray Advances to Australian Open Final Against Djokovic

For Murray, the joy of reaching a ninth grand slam final is accentuated by his brother’s success after Jamie made the final of the men’s doubles, to be played on Saturday. He is one of a very select group, then.

The 25-year-old Raonic, hoping to become the first Canadian man to reach a grand slam final, was feeling the injury in the fourth set but Murray had also crucially got a better fix on his serve and broke for 4-3.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Jamie Murray is leaving Melbourne with one Australian Open trophy for his family after capturing the men’s doubles title with partner Bruno Soares in a match ending early Sunday morning.

“Five finals is a great achievement”, he said. Three of his losses in the final round have come against Djokovic. This set truly was an even one, as things were 5-5 after ten games.

“I need to do it for long enough to have a chance, I’m aware of that”, Murray said. “That’s my challenge on Sunday”. He was moving very well at the end and was playing confidently.

While others might view his non-from-four in Melbourne Park finals as a millstone, Murray sees it as an accomplishment. That will be the starting point for Amélie Mauresmo, Murray’s coach, as she prepares the Scot for tomorrow’s match.

Hingis and Mirza won the Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles previous year.

The world No 1, who has won 10 grand slam titles, will have the advantage of an extra day of rest, having played his semi-final against Roger Federer on Thursday. This will be his third crack at Djokovic, who beat him for titles in 2011 and ’13. “For us to be in the Slam final at the same time is incredible”.

“We’ve played obviously a lot in the last couple of years. We have to be inspired from that as well”. And Murray wasn’t especially sharp until the very end when Raonic was hobbled.

Milos Raonic of Canada in action against Andy Murray of Britain during their semi final match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 29 January 2016.

But ever more the praise to Murray, who triumphed in a battle of wills, endurance and serves.

For the second time in as many majors, though, she fell short.

“It’s worked both ways for me”, Murray said. “I was hitting the ball cleaner from the back of the court”.

Soares lost his serve on two occasions in the opening set but he and Murray responded in the second, breaking in the fifth game en route to sealing it 6-4. A brilliant tie-break by the Canadian secured the third set but after that, it all went wrong for Raonic.

Raonic left the court for treatment for a right groin injury at 1-2 in the fourth set.

That was until the seventh game, when he was broken to love in an error-strewn game as Murray ramped up his returning game. “You can’t take that away from me. To start out with a… final already tells you that if she puts her mind to something, she’s going to do it”.

“I made a few more returns and that was the key”.

“I obviously got a bit lucky on that but you just try to focus on your side of the court”. I don’t know why you are here taking photos. “Doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past. It’s about what happens on Sunday”, Murray said. “I’m fit. I will try to win against her. That’s for sure”.