Australian Open: Murray Survives Raonic To Reach Finals ... Serena Set To Equal Graff’s Slam Record

How can a mighty serve be defended and broken? That was the question Andy Murray came prepared to answer in his semi-final match in Hisense arena. His opponent, Milos Raonic, knew that Murray did not concede points and was reputed for retrieving the most impossible shots and making the other player hit just one more ball.
The two combatants knew it would be a disaster to drop a service game. In the first set, Murray had no answer to the Raonic canons delivered with awesome power from sky-high tosses. Raonic held tenaciously to his serve. A single service break handed the Canadian the first set 6-4 in 36 minutes.
In the second set, Murray was behind 0-30 in the ninth game but he fought back to level. A forehand winner off a short ball by Raonic gave Murray game point.
An ace serve that just made the tip of the service sideline was unsuccessfully challenged by Raonic. Serving at 4-5, Raonic missed an easy volley to fall behind 15-30, but he leveled and was at game point with a volley winner. Murray deuced with a deft angled forehand, but in reply, Raonic drilled a hard serve into Murray’s body to pick the advantage and the game. Murray held easily.

Serving to level games and force a tie-break, Raonic netted a forehand to lose the second point. A long rally was won by Murray to have break point, which he clinched for the set when Raonic missed a volley at the net.
The first five games were won by each server without dropping a point, but it saw a barrage of aces and un-returnable serves by the Canadian.
There was only once deuce and it was in the 12th game on Murray’s serve, which he won to level at six-all and into tie break.
 Serving first, Raonic lost the first point, but took one of Murray’s next two deliveries. He won his two serves to go up 3-1 and an ace gave him a 5-2 lead.
Murray reduced the tally to 5-4, but Raonic sealed the set with a 221 kph ace down the middle to clinch the set in 58 minutes.

 At the end of the third set, the two players took a break to go in the locker room. Murray returned first and went to the service line; waiting. He lost the first point but gathered the next three to go up 1- love.
At two games apiece, Raonic was up 40-0 but dropped two consecutive points before winning the game. It was the pattern from then on, as he was having prolonged rallies before winning his game. Eventually, Murray got the break in the seventh game when Raonic fell behind 0-30 and missed an easy volley to lose the game at love. He forced Murray to deuce in the eighth game but lost.

The medical official came on court and attended to Raonic briefly. Raonic hammered down three aces and despite a double-fault and a break point, reduced the tally to 5-4.
Serving for the set, Murray cancelled a break point with a drop volley winner that caught Raonic flatfooted. He took the game point and the set 6-4, in 55 minutes.

In the fifth set, Raonic lost the first serve Murray held. The third game was taken to deuce. After a long rally, a crosscourt shot by Raonic just missed the line. Down advantage point, he netted a backhand to hand another break to Murray. Murray served to hold his serve.
“The Murray family made history, as his brother Jamie and his doubles partner, Bruno Soares of Brazil, will play against Radek Stepanek (of Czech Republic) and Daniel Nestor of Canada in the Men’s Finals on Saturday. It is the first time two brothers will make both Finals of the Australian Open.

Down 0-4 in games, Raonic fought a hard battle in the fifth. Down 15-40, he drilled a 221 kph serve directly at Murray to reach deuce. The Canadian faced a break point when he missed an easy volley followed by exchange of advantages before he took the game.
At 5-2, Murray won four straight points on serve to clinch the set 6-2 in 37 minutes.
 After four hours and three minutes, and hit with 23 ace serves, Murray had demonstrated what needed to be done to handle the big server. He abided by the basics of the game. His opponent would recall the easy volleys he missed at the net and which caused the loss of the few crucial games that made the difference in the final result.
The Murray family made history, as his brother Jamie and his doubles partner, Bruno Soares of Brazil, will play against Radek Stepanek (of Czech Republic) and Daniel Nestor of Canada in the Men’s Finals on Saturday. It is the first time two brothers will make both Finals of the Australian Open.
In the women’s final, world number one, Serena Williams, needs to beat seventh seed Angelique Kerber to equal Steffi Graf’s Open Era record of 22 singles Slam titles. The American missed this grand opportunity at the US Open last year and she is all set to make amends at this Slam.
Kerber defeated Great Britain’s Johanna Konta to get a chance to play in a Slam final for the very first time.The German has shown at this Australian Open that she is not afraid to take risks, but against a Serena that is in the form of her life, it will take some doing for Kerber to win her first major title.
Serena’s ruthless display against the fourth seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in the semi-final on Thursday has shown that she is not ready to let anything stand in her way of becoming the most decorated woman in tennis history.
 But Kerber can draw from her sole win over the American in the quarter-finals of Cincinnati in 2012.

January 30, 2016