MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Novak Djokovic overcome his breathing problems and fatigue to beat his old friend Andy Murray in an almost five-hour Australian Open semifinal Friday night and move into his third straight Grand Slam final.
Standing between Djokovic and a record shared by some of the greatest players of all time will be No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal, a man he beat in six tournament finals in 2011.
Despite appearing tired and sore from the second set, Djokovic rallied to beat Murray 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 7-5 in a rematch of the 2011 final at Melbourne Park.
After wasting a chance to serve out the match at 5-3 in the fifth and letting Murray back into the contest, Djokovic cashed in his first match point when the Scottish player missed a forehand after four hours, 50 minutes.
“You have to find strength in those moments and energy, and that keeps you going,” he said. “At this level, very few points decide the winner.
“I think we both went through a physical crisis. You know, him at the fourth set, me all the way through the second and midway through the third. It was a very even match throughout, from the first to the last point.”
Djokovic dropped onto his back, fully laid out on the court. He got up and shook hands with Murray, before jogging back out onto the court like a boxer, dropping to his knees and crossing himself.
It was already after 12:30 a.m. Saturday when he got up again and pumped his arms triumphantly.
“Andy deserves the credit to come back from 2-5 down. He was fighting. I was fighting,” Djokovic said. “Not many words that can describe the feeling of the match.
“Evidently it was a physical match … it was one of the best matches I played. Emotionally and mentally it was equally hard.”
It was a bitter setback for Murray, who lost the previous two Australian finals.
Djokovic finished last year at No. 1 after winning three of the four majors, including a straight-sets win over Murray in the Australian final. His only loss at a Grand Slam in 2011 was against Roger Federer in the French Open semifinals.
It was phenomenal season after previously only winning one major—the 2008 Australian Open—and not returning to a final for 11 Grand Slams.
“To be honest, I think I matured as a player. I started to believe on the court I could win majors,” he said. “Rafa and Roger are the most dominant players for the last seven, eight years. … It was very hard to take away the titles from them. They will not give you the titles. You have to earn it.”
He is now aiming to be only the fifth man in the Open Era started in 1968 to win three straight majors—only Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, Federer and Nadal have achieved it before him, with only Laver going on to complete the Grand Slam by winning all four majors in a season.
The Australian great was in the arena named in his honor to watch Friday night’s semifinal, as he had been when 2009 Australian Open winner Nadal came back from a set and a break down to beat four-time champion Federer in four sets the previous night.
Djokovic’s 70-6 win-loss record in 2011 included those six wins over Nadal in finals—including Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
Both players had their form dips, but Djokovic’s were more obvious. He led by a set and a break before Murray started coming back at him. Then Djokovic started walking gingerly and appeared to be struggling for breath—just as he had been in his straights sets quarterfinal win over No. 5-rankedDavid Ferrer.
At one point, he pointed to his nose and seemed to indicated to his support group that he was having trouble breathing.
He stayed in the points, despite Murray scrambling and trying to get him involved in long rallies.
“You try to get energized in every way,” he said. “A lot of liquids, try to eat something, as well, that gives you energy.”
He put his breathing problems down to allergies, and said he’d seen a doctor for it.
After losing a tight tiebreaker and virtually conceding the fourth set, Murray rallied again after slipping behind 5-2 in the fifth. He broke Djokovic at love when the Serb was serving for the match on a three-game streak that put all the pressure back on the defending champion.
But Djokovic composed himself and seemed to be gathering energy as the match wore on. He held serve and then broke Murray to finish it off.
“I’m extremely delighted to be in the final,” Djokovic said. “What can be a bigger challenge than playing against Rafa Nadal, one of the greatest players ever.
“I’m going to try to recover. Obviously it’s going to be physical as well. So I need to do some push-ups tonight.”
Despite being friends and childhood rivals, this was only the second meeting between Djokovic and Murray at a Grand Slam. Djokovic beat Murray in the 2011 Australian final and had a 6-4 lead in their overall head-to-heads at tour level.
Murray won the Brisbane International and came into the semifinal on a 10-match winning streak and with new coach, eight-time major winner Ivan Lendl, in his support crew.
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