Gutsy Djokovic into Aussie Open final
By Sam Lienert, 28 Jan 2012 Sam Lienert is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- Australian Open, Novak Djokovic, Tennis
Novak Djokovic was the victor in a classic Australian Open semi-final AAP Image/Barbara Walton
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Gutsy world No.1 Novak Djokovic will shoot for a slice of tennis history in Sunday night’s Australian Open men’s final after outlasting Scot Andy Murray in a drawn-out, see-sawing Friday night thriller.
Djokovic, who thrashed Murray in straight sets in last year’s final, survived breathing difficulties and an incredibly tough semi-final battle to defeat the fourth seed 6-3 3-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 7-5 in four hours and 50 minutes.
It was the ninth time Murray had reached a grand slam semi-final or better, but his quest to become the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win a major remains elusive.
In contrast, reigning champion Djokovic will aim for his fourth title in five grand slam events when he takes on world No.2 Rafael Nadal.
Nadal booked his final berth by beating Roger Federer on Thursday night.
Djokovic beat Nadal in the finals of the past two majors, Wimbledon and the US Open.
If he triumphs again, the Serb will become just the fifth man in the open era to have won three straight grand slam events, with Nadal, Federer, Pete Sampras and Rod Laver the four to have already done so.
But Nadal, who has an extra day’s rest leading into the final, will be heartened by the gruelling nature of Djokovic’s semi-final win and signs of physical vulnerability from the No.1, even if he finished remarkably strongly.
Djokovic was the dominant player in the first set and quickly led 2-0 in the second.
Murray showed enormous fight to win six of the next seven games and level at a set apiece.
Helping Murray’s cause, Djokovic was buckling over gasping for breath late in the second set and called for a box of tissues early in the third to ease his nasal congestion.
The third set was full of twists, the most dramatic coming when Murray failed to serve out the set, before steeling himself to play a tremendous tiebreaker.
As crucial as that seemed, the advantage that took Murray three hours and 20 minutes to gain evaporated in 25 minutes of strangely uncompetitive tennis as Djokovic breezed through the fourth set.
That lapse looked extremely costly, as Djokovic stormed to a 5-2 lead in the decider.
But Murray dug deep to break the Serb to love as he served for the match at 5-3 and after levelling at 5-5, had three break points himself.
But after Djokovic showed all of his grit to save those, Murray finally buckled on his next service game, putting the Serb within one victory of his third Australian Open title.
While Djokovic’s mid-match physical struggles might have heartened Nadal, the result would not have.
Nadal has won five of his six most recent clashes with Murray, but lost his past six against Djokovic.
© AAP 2012The Crowd Says (5) | Page 1 of Comments
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January 28th 2012 @ 2:44am
Johnno said | January 28th 2012 @ 2:44am | Report comment
This OZ open final could be the greatest of all time matching the same hype as the
Cash-Wilander 88 shoot out in the 1st final there at Flinder’s park in 88, as it was known then now rod laver arena.
Probably been some other great finals i can’t remember them all
agassi-sampras maybe if they had a final, or safin-hewitt , edberg-lendl
rafa-nadal 2008.
But the 2 best players in the world right now on the planet having a 5 set shoot out on sunday , bring it on exciting sport at it’s best.
Both really want to win, mainly as the winner will still have the chance to achieve the grand slam dream that seems to have alluded all modern tennis players in the last 30 years or even more.
Novak won 3 grand slam titles last year, fed has won 3 in a year, Wilander has won 3 in a year, samaras probably won 3 as well in a year.
Is the night final better than the day final, I think so, the whole nation seems to watch it on sudnay night with more excitement than even the logies, they get a real celebrity crowd who attends both the men’s and women’s final on the weekend , big weekend for Melbourne.
And hewitt does well as a commentator i think. He works well with Jim courier, and Johanna Griggs, Bruce Mcavaney,.
Pat rafter and Woodbridge, and Roger Rasheed also do good court side work.
I hope the OZ open stays as a grand slam, the players love it , it will have competition from China, Japan, and the middle east , Qatar, UAE, in the next 10 years to keep it a slam, and may have to reschedule to late january or early febuary start in the future, but a great gand slam the OZ open a lot of history.
I hope the OZ open stays part of the grand slam program, and over all i think a night final is better, but the day finals did have some magic to them some of them, in the hot aussie sun good atmosphere like the Cashy-wilander final, and some of the jim courier wins, and agassi, and becker, and sampras wins, and lendl wins.
January 28th 2012 @ 4:55pm
Aware said | January 28th 2012 @ 4:55pm | Report comment
Great to watch, yes, but the slow surface favours the European players. Even drop shots are easy to run down. These guys would not have lived with Laver, Emerson and co. on a faster surface.
January 29th 2012 @ 4:41am
amazonfan said | January 29th 2012 @ 4:41am | Report comment
Great point.
I think that if Laver was still around, he would have done extremely well. 
January 29th 2012 @ 4:40am
amazonfan said | January 29th 2012 @ 4:40am | Report comment
I don’t have much concerns regarding the Australian Open being replaced. It has a great history, its prize money is on a similar basis to the other slams, the players love playing there, and it is no long the ugly ducking of the slams (hasn’t been so since 1983 IMO.)
January 29th 2012 @ 12:23pm
clipper said | January 29th 2012 @ 12:23pm | Report comment
I would agree. The danger time was in the 70′s and early 80′s when many of the top players didn’t show up (which is a pity for them, as it would have boosted their GS record). Ever since the move, it has grown in stature and I would say it would be on even terms with the French and US. Being at the start of the year, it is imperative for any one who has designs on a Grand Slam to play here.