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Djokovic Fights His Way Into Final Over Mercurial Murray
By Robert Martin
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Photo Credit: Mark Peterson / Corleve
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(January 27, 2012) The men’s final in Melbourne has been decided following the 4 hour 46 minute clash of the 2011 final between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. In a much more spirited performance, Murray threw everything he could at the World No. 1, but in the end, it was Djokovic who will move on to defend his title with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 7-5 victory.
Not wanting to repeat his dismal performance in last year’s final, Murray played a more aggressive style of tennis, likely a product of his new coaching arrangement with Ivan Lendl. In what could only be described as a physically brutal match, it was the emotional ebbs and flows that ultimately decided the outcome.
Things looked dire for the Scot early on as he hit a double fault to hand Djokovic a break of serve on his second service game. He immediately broke back, but a flurry of errors gave Djokovic what would be the decisive break in the next game.
Down a set already, Murray dropped his first service game in the second set, calling up memories of the straight set defeat he suffered in 2011. A few games later, Murray stormed back, breaking Djokovic twice in a row to go up 4-2.
The players trade another pair of breaks before Murray finally holds to level the match at a set each. After trading an early pair of breaks, the two held serve until Murray jumped ahead late in the third set with a break.
Djokovic answered back immediately to force a tiebreak, only to see Murray step up his aggression level, moving Djokovic from side to side with powerful ground strokes. After capturing the third set, the physicality of the match looked to be getting to Murray, who played a lethargic fourth set to even the match at two sets each.
It was much of the same with Djokovic forcing mistakes and Murray reverting to his passive game until his back was against the wall at 2-5 in the deciding set. At that point, something clicked and Murray caught a second wind, blasting forehands and sending Djokovic scrambling.
The Scot somehow brought the match back even and had Djokovic on the run with three break chances to try to serve out the set, but Djokovic stepped it up to hold serve with a swinging forehand volley. The next and final game showed the disparity between the Murray that can challenge Djokovic, and the Murray that has kept him from winning a Grand Slam so far as he began simply slicing backhands and missing rather than forcing the issue.
With the win, Djokovic will advance to meet Rafael Nadal in their third straight Grand Slam final, an Open Era record. Nadal holds the career record advantage at 16-13, but most importantly Djokovic holds the distinct advantage of a 10-5 record on hard courts and a perfect 6-0 record in the past year.
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