It will be a repeat of last year’s final as world number one and reigning champion Novak Djokovic will take on close friend and tournament fourth seed Andy Murray in the 2012 Australian Open Men’s Single’s Semi-Final.
Djokovic advanced through to his ninth consecutive grand slam semi final following a hard fought straight sets 6-4 7-6 6-1 victory over Spanish fifth seed David Ferrer in their Quarter-Final clash out on Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday night.
The Serbian who is aiming for his fourth grand slam title in his last five majors and third down under needed two hours and 44 minutes to get past the fighting and often under-rated Spaniard.
“It was a great match. We played almost three hours,” Djokovic said at his after match media conference about his battle. “After a couple of games I was feeling, ‘Wow, this is going to be a long night.”
“You have to hang in there with a player like Ferrer. He has a great fighting spirit and he always makes you hit the extra shot. I figured out I needed to step in.”
However Djokovic who looked to have injured his hamstring during the match and seemingly played with a limp after doing the injury midway through the second set said that he was in good shape for his 2011 Australian Open Men’s Singles Final re-match with Murray.
British fourth seed Andy Murray will once again have another crack at his close friend and sometimes hitting partner in Novak Djokovic following advancing through to the final four of the tournament after his straight sets 6-3 6-3 6-1 victory over Japanese 24th seed Kei Nishikori.
Murray, bidding to become the first British male player to win a grand slam singles title in 76 years needed two hours and 12 minutes to get past Nishikori, who was playing in his first grand slam quarter-final.
The Scotsman who has lost consecutive Australian Open Finals and three grand slam finals overall (2008 US Open is the other one) is looking forward to the challenge of taking on the world number one, a man he hasn’t beaten in their last four grand slam meetings.
“I haven’t played over two hours really for the last few matches,” commented Murray after his clash on Rod Laver Arena on day 10 of the tournament. “So, yeah, I feel fresh. Hopefully that will be to my advantage going into the weekend. I have to play a lot of long rallies, for sure, against the guys that are still left in the tournament. So I’ll need my legs to be fresh for the next few matches.”
“I saw Novak’s match with Lleyton. That was the only match of his I’d seen. He was hitting the ball very well. David, I saw a bit of his match with Gasquet. He’s always solid. He’s always very good. He never plays poor matches. He’s a tough guy to play.”
Murray also said that he feels much better heading into this semi-final then he did 12 months ago as for the first time since 2005 the top four men will contest the semi-finals of the year’s fist grand slam.
World number two Rafael Nadal will take on old foe and 16-time major winner Roger Federer in the first of the semi finals on Thursday night before Djokovic and Murray take the stage 24 hours later.
Tagged with: 44 Minutes, Andy Murray, Australian Open, Clash, David Ferrer, Fifth Seed, Fighting Spirit, Final Four, Good Shape, Grand Slam Finals, Grand Slam Title, Majors, Novak Djokovic, Open Men, Rod Laver, Rod Laver Arena, Scotsman, Serbian, Straight Sets, Wednesday Night
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