It has been a week of anguish and struggle like no other in Andy Murray's life. But a tortuous, five-set victory over Milos Raonic here on Friday night that pitches him into a fifth Australian Open final will have seemed the most worthwhile of professional sacrifices.
He could so easily have gone home, to be alongside his father-in-law, Nigel Sears, whose collapse in the stands last weekend was seriously distressing for his brother, Jamie, mother, Judy – who were with Andy here – and his heavily pregnant wife, Kim, waiting at their home in Oxshott, Surrey. He had already pledged to leave Melbourne if their first child arrived early.
But this is what he does for a living : suffer on a tennis court – and there almost certainly is more to come against Novak Djokovic on Sunday. History beckons, and Murray has little time for the restrictions of the past. If he beats the world No 1, he will become the first man in the Open Era to win a slam after losing four finals at the same venue: against Roger Federer in 2010, and Djokovic in 2011, 2013, and 2015.
He was not going to let Raonic, the world No 14, stand in the way of thatso he did his business. He beat Raonic 4-6, 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-2 in a tick over four hours. The Canadian, struggling with a leg injury himself at the end, forced him to leave it all on Rod Laver Arena, and now Murray has the challenge of finding enough energy to give the best player in the world a good fight on Sunday night.
“It was tough, but in the tie-break he didn’t miss one first serve,” Murray said courtside. “He has one of the best serves in tennis, but I got a slightly better read on it as the match went on. That was the key. He definitely slowed down in the fifth set, which was unfortunate for him. He was struggling with his movement. You just have to deal with your side of the net as best you can.”
As for his fourth Australian final against Djokovic, he said: “A lot of things are important when you’re playing against the best player in the world. I need to not have any lapses in concentration. We’ve played a bunch of times here. Hopefully this time it can be a different result.”
“I’ve never seen Murray so tied up in a tennis match before,” one of his former coaches, Darren Cahill said, as the world No 2 was forced, serve after serve, to get the ball back as best he could in a tense, high-grade contest, some times looking like Alastair Cook fending off Dale Steyn.
The opening exchanges flew by in a blur of rasping Raonic head-high snorters, a portent of the barrage to follow, as he broke to love then saved three break points to hold through deuce with a commanding smash.
Murray, struggling to hold his own in open court, got on the board after 10 minutes, acing and holding to 15, but these were dangerous moments for the Scot.
While Raonic had slightly the upper hand, it was developing into a intriguing battle of wits and muscle between one of the biggest servers in tennis, a 24-year-old Canadian in his third slam semi, and one of the game’s two or three best returners, appearing in his 18th slam semi-final at 28, with two majors to his name.
Raonic, second in the tournament aces count only to John Isner, with 84 from five matches, was body-serving Murray relentlessly, and the Scot did well to get most of them back, although the line judges had trouble seeing a few. There was a brief argument over his fourth ace, a 230kph howitzer down the T at 40-30 in the 10th game, Raonic’s challenge confirming its legality, to seal the set after 37 minutes.
Murray needed some easy points on his own serve and an extended run of consistency off the ground to capitalise on Raonic’s slowly mounting tally of unforced errors – 20 after 50 minutes – but his groundstrokes lacked their usual precision.
He cleverly twisted Raonic on the baseline at the net to fashion another break point in the fifth game, but Raonic escaped for 3-all.
After an hour and 20 minutes, the first real pressure landed on Raonic’s racket, as he served to stay in the set. They jousted to deuce, where his big serve got him to 5-all.
The last thing Murray needed against such a serving monster was a tie-break, so a hold and a break was his best route to levelling the match. He managed the former to love, and a cracking crosscourt winner to pass at the net after a quality exchange gave Murray set point.. Raonic obliged by netting his next backhand volley.
The Scot’s relief was palpable, his resolve intact.
Seven of Murray’s eight wins in slam semi-finals went four sets, five from a set down. He doesn’t half relish a fight, and he had one here.
When he stepped up to the line in the fifth game of the third set, he brought a 16-point winning stretch on his serve. When he went to his chair, it was 19 on the spin – his sixth hold to love clinched with his fourth ace.
Raonic, still tough to crack on his own serve, smashed a couple of aces for 3-all, and stopped Murray’s run at 20 points, but couldn’t break him. The Scot had gone into full stubborn mode.
After two hours they were dead even – but for the second time in half an hour, Raonic was serving to stay in a set. He ace to hold, his sixth of the set, 12th of the match, as he marginally cut his speed in search of precision.
Raonic had not broken Murray since the first game of the match; two-and-a-quarter hours later, he had another look at 5-all in the third – but netted a backhand from deep off a Murray drive that clipped the tape. Murray held with an outswinger down the T.
Raonic blew it at 5-6 in the second. He did not blow it at 5-6 in the third, and they went to the tie-break, where Raonic held a 2-1 head-to-head advantage. When he made it 3-1 with a 137-mile-an-hour ace down the middle to lead by a set, Raonic went to the fourth with a one-set lead and fresh bounce in his slow-moving step. It was his match to lose.
Raonic left the court for a five-minute medical timeout at 2-1 up in the fourth for treatment to his leg. On his return, he got into a state over a poor line call, and said to the chair umpire, “Do your friggin’ job.” It was not quite Lleyton Hewitt level of abuse, but it was out of character for the normally mild-mannered Canadian. The pressure was building on both sides of the net.
Murray, 11-18 when down 2-1 in five-set matches, but 2-9 in his last 11, badly needed a break, and Raonic, becoming visibly agitated, handed it to him in the seventh game with a limp netted backhand.
Two poor misses dragged Murray to deuce on his serve, a dumped backhand gave Raonic break point, but he saved at the net, celebrating with a “multiple lawnmower” fist-pump, and tidied it up with a forehand into the empty deuce corner.
Raonic fought through deuce three times and saved one set point in the ninth game before holding with a beautiful drop shot. In the break, he took more on-court treatment to his right groin, which appeared to hamper his movement, but not dramatically so.
Serving for 2-all, Murray dug himself a 15-40 hole, fought back and held with a big serve. They went to the fifth, where he was 18-7 in his career, Raonic 6-4. This was Murray Country, no question and, when he broke at the start, Raonic smashed a racket. It was as if he sensed what was coming.
Raonic was wilting. His serving power dropped, his movement grew increasingly stiff and pained, his temper shortened to the point of combustion. And, although he fought to the end, Murray cut him down with all the ruthless intent he could muster, a rapier forehand drawing final blood. He had other places to be.
(Guardian service)
