Well, well, well. Despite playing a very erratic match, Andy Murray has finally made it through to his third Grand Slam final, in which he'll meet Novak Djokovic, as I predicted a few days ago (clever me !)
Murray's performance really was a mess. He started so well, and with a break in the first set to lead 4-3, he looked to be coasting before it all went awry. Suddenly, he was unable to hold his serve and David Ferrer simply took charge; after losing the first set, Murray struggled to stay in touch throughout the second. Ferrer profited from the long rallies and Murray racked up a horrible number of unforced errors. His ground strokes seemed to be, too often, too short and he failed to put real pressure on his opponent. Somehow, he managed to get in a position to serve for the second set, yet still he was unable to make it count and it was eventually decided by a tie-break, totally dominated by ....... Murray; Ferrer almost gave the tie break away and suddenly looked like a beaten man.
The third set seemed to confirm that Ferrer had run out of steam and was down-and-out, as Murray produced fewer unforced errors and Ferrer began to make more mistakes. An early break in the fourth looked to have sealed the result, but then we had a repeat of the earlier horrors as Murray appeared to lose concentration and Ferrer roared back to counter the break and threatened to square the match. Finally, Murray managed to take the set to another tie-break and, again, he dominated it to take the match and seal his place in the final.
Ferrer played well and tenaciously, but Murray was below his best and made the match more difficult than it needed to be. Far too often he threw points away and a 4 hour marathon was not what he needed as preparation for what will be his best chance so far to win that elusive Grand Slam title. Novak Djokovic is a great player and already has an Australian title to his name, but he is neither Federer nor Nadal; Murray has a great chance but he'll have to up his game from today's performance if he's to come out on top.
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