Andy Murray went through paro-xysms of frustration but seized another opportunity to break his Australian Open jinx with a four-hour, five-set semi-final victory over Milos Raonic yesterday.
Four times the world no.2 has advanced to the final at Melbourne Park and four times he has been vanquished, three times at the hands of Novak Djokovic.
The Serbian will again stand in his path tomorrow as the Scot seeks to add another grand slam title to his 2012 US Open and 2013 Wimbledon crowns.
“Five finals is a great achievement,” said Murray.
“You can’t take that away from me. I should be happy about that. There’s very few players that will have made five Australian Open finals, so I have to be proud of that achievement.”
Raonic, meanwhile, was left heartbroken after suffering a thigh injury that hampered him from the middle of the third set of the4-6 7-5 6-7 6-4 6-2 defeat.
Winning matches never looks like a walk in the park for Murray but for much of the contest against the Canadian, he at least had some justification for the tortured grimaces and explosions of anger that followed every setback.
The 13th seed has been on fire this year and his big serve and huge forehands had one of the best returners in the game on the ropes, while his new-found net game helped him to a healthy 72 winners.
Murray said earlier this week that he would waste no more energy on the histrionics but the match was just minutes old when he returned to his chair muttering curses having been broken to love in his first service game.
That was to be Raonic’s only break of the match but it was enough to win the first set and, after Murray had pounced to even up the contest, he ramped up his 230 kilometre-per-hour serve to clinch the third on tiebreak.
The 25-year-old Raonic, hoping to become the first Canadian man to reach a grand slam final, was feeling the injury in the fourth set but Murray had also crucially got a better fix on his serve and broke for 4-3.
Raonic almost claimed it back in the next game but Murray saved two break points, falling to one knee and roaring “Yes! Yes!” as he pumped his fist at the ground.
Murray served out the set to even up the contest again and grabbed two breaks as the wincing Raonic’s level dropped, the Canadian’s racket feeling the brunt of his frustration after the first.
“It’s unfortunate, it’s probably the most heartbroken I’ve been on court,” Raonic said of his injury.
Murray finished off his ailing opponent with a sublime crosscourt backhand volley to bring up a match point, which he converted with a forehand winner.
The 28-year-old pointed both index fingers at the roof of Rod Laver Arena before slumping into his courtside chair with a look of relief on his face.
The relief will not be long-lived, however, as he will be back on the same court tomorrow attempting to dethrone five-times champion Djokovic.
Meanwhile, Murray’s older brother Jamie will be bidding for silverware today when he teams up with Bruno Soares to take on Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek in the doubles final.
It is the first time two brothers have reached separate finals at the same grand slam.