It can’t be a coincidence that Lotto dress David Ferrer in black and yellow. He buzzes around a tennis court just like one of nature’s most irritating insects, refusing to go away, lie down, give any ground. He is a Grand Slam semifinalist’s worst nightmare. A waspish underdog. And one that will run, and run, and run, and buzz, and buzz, and buzz, all night long.
But Andy Murray does not have a problem with underdogs these days. He is not the player that lost to Marin Cilic at the US Open in 2009. Nor is he the player that lost to Tomas Berdych in the French Open 2010, or to Stanislas Wawrinka at the US Open in 2010. At least not today, anyway.
His jaw set firmer than David Coulthard’s, Murray defeated Ferrer over four blisteringly brutal sets to reach his third Grand Slam final, his second in a row at Melbourne Park, and set up a first-ever Major meeting with world No.3 and best bro Novak Djokovic.
It was certainly not a tea party. Rafael Nadal spent much of his post-match press conference, while refusing to talk about his injury, praising the tennis of the compatriot who had defeated him in straight sets. And he was quite right to. Ferrer has always been frightening in his pace and purpose, but it was his accuracy and consistency that raised hairs against Nadal, and against Murray in the first set of their Australian Open semifinal.
With Team Murray, and newly-recruited fan Caroline Wozniacki watching and wishing from his box, and his four biggest Australian fans singing along to the Hokey Cokey in the changeovers, the momentum sat on the world No.5′s shoulders when he broke to lead 4-3 in the opening set. But Ferrer had obviously been studying the Scot, taking the net off him, and breaking straight back.
Whether it was losing the early lead or simply that Ferrer was hanging around in every rally like an annoying younger brother, Murray’s hitherto clean and consistent hitting dissolved into a bundle of errors, especially his usually granite-like backhand. It was on that flank that the 16th error came, handing his serve and the first set to the Spaniard, 6-4, after 46 minutes.
As British fans hid beneath their duvets, and those with prematurely-penned ‘Murray to face Djokovic’ previews hastily pressing delete, or at least, thinking about it, the British No.1 broke Ferrer in an opening nine-minute game. But a now yellow-shirted Ferrer, helped along by the Scot hitting just 20 per cent of his first serves in, broke back.Drawn into longer and longer exchanges from the court’s two furthest white lines, Murray found himself the losing partner in an attritional relationship, the Spaniard grinding and grinding and grinding. If it were wheat, he’d have the finest grain in Melbourne.
But Murray has been in this position before. He dropped the first set on this very same day last year, Cilic was the opponent that time, and came back to win in four. Often he just needs a little kick, a yell, a scream, even giving his hand a whack against his racket. We saw plenty of that.
Saving three break points, Murray survived a game as turgid as Tolstoy at 2-3. It was the jail card he needed. Advancing on the net for the first time in a wee while, he held off a set point at 4-5, and turned the baseline worm in his favour.
Ferrer, who had been unmissable, started to miss, bubbling his lips like a carp as he surrendered his serve to Murray. The Brit gave the break back, but then romped through the the tiebreak for the loss of just two points to level the match, with his third ace, after an hour and 59 minutes. One of those points involved chasing down a drop shot. How the shoes had swopped feet.
The third set produced the Murray that mauled Melzer. He still indulged in the odd hand and racket thwack, but broke a furious Ferrer to lead 3-1, then 4-1, then 5-1. The Spaniard put him through five break points as he teetered on the edge of breaking back, but Murray batted them off to convert his third set point after 42 minutes. Tellingly, his unforced error count had dropped to just nine for the set. Ferrer’s was 25.
Leading two sets to one, Rod Laver Arena’s 15,000 pairs of eyes fixated on Murray’s every footstep, the British No.1 converted his 11th break point and then held for an early lead, finally sitting atop the net. But counting the cucumbers is never a wise idea where someone like Ferrer is concerned. Back in black, the Spaniard remembered how to make Murray run, and doggedly and determinedly broke back.
Suffering a pause in nimbleness, Murray looked pained as the Spaniard nosed ahead, his team with perturbed expressions as he put hand on sore hip. Hard courts will do that to you, especially when the man on the other side of the net is making you go through clay court rallies.
“He’s an unbelievable athlete, he works so hard, he’s in great shape, he’s such a tough player to play against” Murray on Ferrer
Barely a sniff on the other’s serve, the games ticked over like hedge fund figures, Ferrer scooping energy powder into his Evian bottle at the interchanges, while the Scot glugged back his fifth bottle of Andy Ireland medicine.
Surviving one, then two episodes of serving to stay in the set, the fourth set, like the second, went to a tiebreak. Murray’s unforced errors up to 62 for the match, almost double Ferrer’s 33, never was there a more important moment to play tight.
Sprinting his way to the net in a manner that belied both the niggles and naggles and the three hours and 40 minutes on court, Murray hit his 57th winner to take the first point from Ferrer’s clutches. The Spaniard claimed the mini-break back, only to be pushed into the ANZ courtside logos as Murray ramped up the pace and the angle. Two more points, and Murray lead 5-1. ‘Boomtown,’ as some might say. His ninth ace, and the Scot had five match points after three hours and 45 minutes.
Ferrer saved the first, but on the second Murray played the puppet master, dinking a drop shot, the Spaniard tearing after it, and Murray stretching for the winning volley.
And so, after three hours and 46 minutes, Murray reached his third Grand Slam final, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-1, 7-6(2). It wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t especially pretty, but it was another bout of the Scot’s ability to do what he has to to get the result.
“He’s an unbelievable athlete, he works so hard, he’s in great shape, he’s such a tough player to play against,” said Murray about Ferrer. “The conditions are very different in the evenings than during the day, he was dictating all the points at the start. The second set I started to go for my shots a bit more and it paid off. Grand Slam semifinal, there’s always going to be some nerves, and that was the case today.”
“I was so focused, I wasn’t thinking that much, and that probably helped me out a little bit. I think everyone has problems at this stage in the tournament, both of us did a lot of running tonight, it was a pretty physical match. I’m going to jump in the ice bath and try and recover properly.”
“I changed racket tension just before the end of the second set and felt like I was able to hit through the ball a bit better, came to the net a bit more, he was like a brick wall from the back of the court. He lost his rhythm a little bit at the end of the third, my level dropped a little, but I managed to find it.”
“The first Slam final I played against Federer I didn’t know what was going on, it went by really really quick last year was better, and I hope this one is going to be better than last year’s. Novak’s had a great tournament, it’s going to be a tough match. We’re good friends, we practiced a lot in Perth, and here, it’s going to be a brutal match I think. I’ve had great support back home and great atmosphere here again tonight.”
