(January 29, 2016) No. 2 Andy Murray rallied from two sets to one down to beat No. 13 Milos Raonic 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 to reach his fifth Australian Open final. He’ll play defending champion Novak Djokovic in the final on Sunday. Murray has lost to No. 1 Djokovic in three previous finals.
The Canadian Raonic began the match by breaking Murray’s serve at love. Raonic made the hold stand to win the first set 6-4. In the second set Murray broke serve in the 12th game to capture the second set 7-5. The third set saw both men stand toe-to-toe into the tiebreak. Raonic jumped to a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak and closed it out 7-4. In the fourth set Murray took Raonic’s serve in the seventh game and saved four break points in the next few games to prevent Raonic from getting back into the set.
Raonic took a medical time out in the fourth set for an upper right leg injury and was visibly hampered in his movement on the court after that.
Raonic was broken to open the fifth set and broke his racquet in anger and frustration. Murray ran up a 4-0 score and did not have to look back.
Raonic made 78 unforced errors in the four-hour and three-minute match.
Murray goes into the final against 10-time major winner Djokovic with a 9-21 record, having lost 3 finals to the No. player. The will be the Scotsman’s ninth major final.
In his on-court interview he talked about what he needs to do to beat the world No. 1: “I need to keep my game plan very well, not have any lapses in concentration and just play the best I can.”
“He loves playing on this court, we’ve played a bunch of times here. Hopefully it can be a different result.”
Asked about his injury, Raonic said: “Just a difficulty to push off my leg with my adductor midway through the third set. That’s what it was.
“It’s unfortunate. Probably the most heartbroken I felt on court, but that’s what it is.”
“Five finals is a great achievement,” Murray said. “You can’t take that away from me. I should be happy about that. There’s very few players that will have made five Australian Open finals, so I have to be proud of that achievement.
“Obviously when you get to the final you’re disappointed if you don’t win. But, I mean, I’ve obviously played very good tennis here. I’ve given myself many opportunities to reach the finals. Seven straight quarterfinals, as well.
“I have a very good shot on Sunday if I play my best tennis, like I said. I need to do it for long enough to have a chance. I’m aware of that. I don’t think many people are expecting me to win on Sunday. I have to just believe in myself, have a solid game plan, and hopefully execute it and play well.
“But, you know, the previous disappointments, it’s one tennis match. Doesn’t matter what’s happened in the past really. It’s about what happens on Sunday. People like to read into what’s happened in the past, but Stan beat Rafa in the final here. I don’t know, I don’t think he’d ever won against him in like 13 attempts. When he beat Novak here, the same thing, as well.
“There’s no reason it’s not possible for me to win.”
Earlier in the day, No. 1 seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza defeated Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (1), 6-3 to win the women’s doubles crown. The team has now won three straight majors and 36 consecutive matches.