29th January, 2015
Britain’s Andy Murray stormed into his fourth Australian Open final with a commanding four-sets win over Czech Tomas Berdych on Thursday.
The dual Grand Slam champion, seeded six, beat the seventh seed 6-7 (6/8), 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 and will play either Novak Djokovic or defending champion Stan Wawrinka in Sunday’s decider.
The tournament has been a heartbreak Grand Slam for the Scot with three runner-up finishes, but he has given himself another chance to break through and add to his Wimbledon and US Open titles.
The world number six was too strong for Berdych, who wasn’t the same player that eliminated Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals.
After losing a marathon 76-minute opening set in a tiebreaker, Murray finished strongly to clinch the match in 3hr 26min on Rod Laver Arena.
There was plenty of friction between the two and a few glares at each other at changeovers during the opening set sparked by Berdych’s decision to hire former Murray team member Dani Vallverdu as his coach.
“I was disappointed to lose the opening set after I had a couple of ch