Defending champion Novak Djokovic dug deep yesterday to see off Britain’s Andy Murray in a thrilling five-set semi-final at the Australian Open.

In a rollercoaster match lasting nearly five hours, the Serbian top seed, trailing two sets to one, stormed back to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 7-5 to set up a title match with Rafael Nadal.

“There’s not any words that can describe the feeling I have now,” Djokovic said.

“Andy deserves the credit to come back into the match after 3-5 down. He was fighting, I was fighting.”

Djokovic now gets a shot at his third Australian Open title while Murray’s quest for Britain’s first male grand slam title in 76 years goes on.

Djokovic, who enjoyed a stellar season in 2011, winning 10 titles including the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open, drew first blood, breaking in the fourth game when the Scot double-faulted.

He took the opening set and broke again early in the second but Murray soon began to dictate the points, levelling the match and taking the third set on a tie-break.

But there was a sudden momentum shift at the start of the fourth set as errors crept back into Murray’s game and Djokovic raced through the gears to take it 6-1 in just 25 minutes.

He made a crucial break in the sixth game of the final set and although Murray broke back, he won the match by breaking the Scot in the 12th game.

“It was one of the best matches I’ve played but emotionally it was hard,” Djokovic said.

“I felt like we were breaking each other’s serves easier than serving it out.”

Djokovic is bidding to become just the fifth man to win three consecutive grand slam titles in the open era when he faces Nadal tomorrow.