Roger Federer defeats Andy Murray, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3. Federer had a chance to close it out in 3 on his own serve, both at 5-4 and in the tiebreaker with match points, but Murray took full advantage of Federer's inability to put a first serve at the crucial moments, played very aggressively as he obviously had nothing to lose at that point, and bravely succeeded in extending the match.
Murray was obviously tired in the 4th set, and perhaps had strained his back or hip a bit. He clearly was not able to make a good turn on the ball has he had done earlier in the match, and Federer changed his aggressive tactics from the first 3 sets to make it a much more physical match and that eventually paid dividends as Federer was able to break Murray in the 8th game after Murray had saved two previous very long games on serve, one close to 20 minutes. This time Federer served it out. Federer was probably a bit unhappy that the match went an hour longer, but was still obviously happy to get to his 11th consecutive semifinal at the Australian Open after a mediocre season last year.
Congrats to Roger Federer, his team, and his fans.
Andy Murray, OBE, did so well to hang in the match for as long as he did, and kudos to the Highlander, his team and his fans.
Now it's on to the Australian Open semifinals on Friday.
Berdych vs. Wawrinka and
Nadal vs. Federer.
Should be a treat! Good luck and I hope all players are rested, well, and ready!
Respectfully,
masterclass