Murray to face Djokovic in final

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP):

Andy Murray will get another chance to end a near 75-year winless streak for British men in Grand Slam singles tournaments, after beating Spain's David Ferrer 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1, 7-6 (2) yesterday to reach the Australian Open final.

The semi-final win put Murray into tomorrow's final against Novak Djokovic of Serbia, the 2008 champion, who holds a 4-3 edge in head-to-head matches.

Murray, however, has won the last three.

Murray had his moments, facing a set point in the second which would have had him trailing 2-0, but fought back to beat Ferrer for the third time in six career meetings.

"I think towards the end of the second set I started going for my shots more … I was missing a lot earlier," Murray said. "I changed my string-tension and managed to come through. I changed my tactics … played closer to the baseline, waiting for my shots a bit more."

No British male has won a Grand Slam singles title since Fred Perry in 1936 - more than 270 Grand Slam tournaments ago. The drought endured through British hopes, including Tim Henman and most recently by Murray in last year's straight-set loss to Roger Federer at Melbourne Park.

Federer is gone from this tournament, beaten by Djokovic in the semi-finals. Top-ranked Rafael Nadal, who was trying to win his fourth straight Grand Slam tournament, is gone too. He was hobbled by a thigh injury in his quarter-final loss to Ferrer.

Yesterday's semi-final was filled with long rallies and plenty of booming forehands that just cleared the net. Murray mixed it up enough at times that his looping lob on break point at 4-1 in the third set went high over seventh-seeded Ferrer's head, allowing the Spaniard to only watch as the ball bounced metres inside the line.

Ferrer won the first set by breaking Murray's serve in the 10th game and had a set point to go up 2-0 in the second. But Murray saved it and levelled at 5-5. The two exchanged service breaks in the next two games to send the second set to a tie-breaker, which Murray led 6-0 and easily prevailed.

He overwhelmed Ferrer in the two tie-break sets, allowing the Spanish player just four points.

"'I served well in both of them," Murray said. "I got off to a good start and that always makes a difference."

Couldn't do more

Ferrer rued his missed opportunities, but said he couldn't have done any more.

"I had my chance on the set point in the second set, but in the important moments he served really well," Ferrer said. "In the tie-break, maybe he start better than me.

"Andy in important moments served better than me. So I can't do nothing more. I fight a lot. I tried my best game all the time, but Andy's a very, very, great player."

Murray says he and Djokovic are good friends and often train together.

"I think experience-wise we are similar," Murray said. "There won't be any secrets with our games, but it's going to be a brutal match. I hope it's the start of us playing each other in big matches."

Earlier yesterday, the top-ranked team of Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Italian Flavia Pennetta rallied from a set and 4-1 down to beat Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 for the women's doubles title.

It was the first Grand Slam title for the Dulko-Pennetta combination, who made it to the quarterfinals at all the Grand Slams last year and the Wimbledon semi-finals.

Kim Clijsters, who will play the women's final today against Li Na of China, thinks that 2011 will "probably" be her last full year on the tennis tour.

When asked yesterday if the Australian Open women's final could be her last appearance at Melbourne Park, the 27-year-old Clijsters replied: "Yeah, it is."

She added: "I know this is probably going to be my last full season on the tour and then we'll see."

Fellow Belgian and former No. 1-ranked Justine Henin retired for a second time on Wednesday, citing a lingering elbow injury that forced her off the tour after Wimbledon last year. She won seven Grand Slam singles titles.