MELBOURNE: After three heart-breaking trips to the final, Andy Murray secured another shot at Australian Open glory by overhauling Tomas Berdych on Thursday after women’s top seed Serena Williams set up a blockbuster title-decider with Maria Sharapova.

Edged in a marathon first set, Murray fired up after a frosty exchange with the hard-hitting Czech and blazed to a 6-7 (6-8), 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 victory under the lights of Rod Laver Arena.

The sixth-seeded Scot will contest his first Grand Slam final since his emotional triumph at Wimbledon in 2013. His next opponent will be decided in Friday’s semi-final between world number one Novak Djokovic and champion Stan Wawrinka.

Murray’s clinical disposal of Rafa Nadal’s conqueror sent an ominous signal to his eventual challenger and thrilled the centre court crowd after the women’s semi-finals were earlier wrapped up in straight sets.

With his former assistant coach Dani Vallverdu sitting in Berdych’s player’s box, Murray made redundant any plans the two might have hatched by taming the Czech’s monster serve and cutting him to pieces in the baseline exchanges.

“I was disappointed to lose the opening set after I had a couple of chances at the end but I felt I was playing better as the set went on and I was very aggressive at the beginning of the second set,” Murray said courtside on a chilly, breezy night.

“In the beginning I was feeling quite rushed and then I got more aggressive and made him do more running ... which was important.”

Murray sealed the match with a thumping ace down the ‘T’ after three hours and 26 minutes.

Arguably the match was won when the rangy Czech poked the Scottish bear at the change of ends after winning a tense first set.

Glaring at Murray, the Czech muttered a few words and earned a gentle rebuke from French chair umpire Pascal Maria. The Scot returned to the court a raging bull, throwing Berdych from side to side and returning every baseline rocket with interest.

The late match followed on from some fierce skirmishes earlier in the day when top seed Serena brushed aside teenager Madison Keys, the latest member of ‘generation next’ trying to steal her crown.

Williams was pushed hard by her 19-year-old challenger in a duel between two of the game’s hardest hitters before triumphing 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 to reach her first Melbourne Park final in five years.

Madison Keys plays a shot against Serena Williams. — AP

Keys burnished her credentials as the next torchbearer for American tennis, defiantly saving eight match points as her opponent roared in frustration before Serena sealed the contest with an ace down the middle.

“She pushed me really hard the first set ... and I had to really dig deep mentally to get through that,” Serena said. “It was a little frustrating. I had like nine or 10 match points and couldn’t close it out. That doesn’t happen so much. She played like she didn’t have anything to lose.”

Serena, who retains her world number one ranking by reaching the final, will face the woman she has tormented for over a decade in 27-year-old Sharapova, who trounced Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-2 in the first semi-final.

Five-times grand slam champion Sharapova will be hoping a 15-match losing streak against her American nemesis, stretching back to 2004, will have no bearing come Saturday.

Sharapova, a 2008 champion at Melbourne Park, lost to Williams in the 2007 final and again in the final at the 2013 French Open.

Most streaks are eventually broken and Sharapova, fit and in ominous form, took heart from her win over Makarova.

“I think my confidence should be pretty high going into a final of a Grand Slam no matter who I’m facing and whether I’ve had a terrible record, to say the least, against someone,” she said. “It doesn’t matter. I got there for a reason. I belong in that spot.”

Sharapova needed 10 minutes to hold in her opening service game, fending off two break points. She responded to the only service break against her in the first set by winning six straight games and seizing control of the match from the 10th-seeded Makarova.

The five-time major winner opened the 2015 season in confident style by winning the Brisbane International title but had a close call in the second round here, having to save match points against No. 150-ranked Russian qualifier Alexandra Panova.

“It’s been a strange road for me to get to the finals, but I’m happy,” Sharapova said. “I felt like I was given a second chance. I just wanted to take my chances.”

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2015

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