Murray Back In Major Final

You don’t become a Grand Slam Champion unless you’re made of stern stuff and at the moment there aren’t many tougher than Andy Murray.

Is he back to the man who made history by becoming the first British male to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936? Quite possibly. Is he a different proposition from the player who was humiliated by Roger Federer at the ATP world tour finals back in November? Most definitely.

Murray reaches his first major final since Wimbledon in 2013

Murray has never won the Australian Open but his victory over Tomas Berdych in Thursday’s first semi-final has given the Brit a real chance of adding a third major title to his growing list of honours.

He looks fitter, quicker, even tougher than he did when he claimed his maiden Grand Slam at the US Open back in 2012, and after a fair share of criticism there are signs that his game is finally starting to blossom working with coach Amélie Mauresmo.

Victory over Berdych wasn’t easy and it took a gruelling 3 hours 26 minutes for Murray to chop down the giant Czech, winning 6-7(6) 6-0 6-3 7-5 to reach Sunday’s final where he will meet either Novak Djokovic or Stanislas Wawrinka.

In many ways this is the ideal scenario for Murray, who will compete in his first major final with Mauresmo at the helm. He hasn’t been pushed to the limit over five sets; however he has been tested by the likes of Berdych and Grigor Dimitrov who have forced the Brit to be on top of his game.

Before this semi-final match up a lot was made about Berdych’s coach Dani Vallverdu who was working with Murray until November last year.

Early on it was the Czech who dominated. From the very first game he pursued the Murray serve with his sledgehammer forehand and aggressive approach, while he held his own serve with relative ease.

But Murray is a fighter, and firmly dug in his heels to cope with the Berdych bombardment. In the eighth game the Czech finally broke to lead 5-3; however when serving for the set Murray pounded back with vengeance to force a breaker.

That may have gone Berdych’s way but Murray’s response was immaculate. In the second set he surged on the attack taking it without dropping a game, as Berdych had no answer to Murray’s dainty slice or fierce forehand from the back of the court.

This was Murray at his aggressive best and there was no let-up in sets three and four. Berdych’s serve was less dominant as the match went on and he appeared to have fewer and fewer weapons compared to the variety in Murray’s armoury.

The Brit broke Berdych in the sixth game of the third to lead 4-2 before taking a 2 sets to 1 lead. He then landed the knockout blow at 5-5 in the fourth and with the final in sights he finished with an ace. He is a Grand Slam champion and once again he is showing us why.