| Australian Open |
|---|
| Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 18-31 January |
| Coverage: Live radio commentary on the men’s and women’s finals from 08:30 GMT on Saturday and Sunday, plus live text commentary on the BBC Sport website. |
| Highlights: Watch on BBC Two, online and BBC Sport app from 13:00 on Saturday and 14:00 on Sunday. |
Britain’s Andy Murray reached his fifth Australian Open final by winning an epic five-set battle with 13th seed Milos Raonic.
World number two Murray was broken in the first game of the match and his 25-year-old Canadian opponent went on to take the first and third sets.
But the 28-year-old Scot prevailed 4-6 7-5 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-2 in a gruelling four-hour contest.
Murray will meet defending champion Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final.
“It was tough in that third set. In the tie-break he didn’t miss a single serve and it is frustrating when you don’t get a say in the points,” said Murray, who has been a runner-up in the tournament four times.
“Over the match, I got a better read on his serve and that was crucial.”
The result means Murray and older sibling Jamie are the first brothers in the Open era to reach the finals in both the men’s singles and men’s doubles events at a Grand Slam.
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares will play Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek in the doubles final on Saturday.
The Murrays’ fellow Scot Gordon Reid is on course for an Australian Open double after reaching the final of the men’s wheelchair in both the singles and doubles.
Much has been made of distraction off court for Murray during this tournament, with wife Kim heavily pregnant at home in Britain, and her father Nigel recovering from illness.
The Scot had come through the first five rounds relatively unscathed but made the worst possible start to his sixth Australian Open semi-final, as Raonic went on the hunt for a place in his first Grand Slam final.
The 6ft 5in Raonic stunned Murray by breaking him in the first game and the Briton failed to execute three break points on the Canadian’s serve as he fell 2-0 behind.
Raonic, who was unbeaten in 2016 having won the Brisbane Open earlier this month, was then able to rely on his trademark big serve to see out the first set without much drama.
Raonic held off two breaks but rarely threatened on his opponent’s serve, and Murray’s patience was rewarded as he took the second set 7-5.
After five games were won to love in the third set, it became a matter of who was going to crack first.
A tie-break followed, and big-serving Raonic was in his element. He raced into a three-point lead and, with two set points, he won it with his 13th ace of the match.
But Murray’s confidence was not affected and he made sure he took the match all the way by breaking late in the fourth to take it 6-4.
Raonic looked to be struggling through injury and fatigue, and called for a medical time-out before the start of the fifth. As the Canadian tired, Murray seemed to get stronger and he took the final set with ease.
“He definitely slowed down in the fifth set for sure which was unfortunate for him,” the Scot said of Raonic’s injury.
“I obviously got a bit lucky on that but you just try to focus on your side of the court.”
Raonic said: “That’s probably the most heartbroken I felt on court, but that’s what it is.”
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
Raonic came out of the blocks like Novak Djokovic: breaking Murray to love in the opening game and tormenting him with serves to the body at 140mph.
The leg injury which denied the Canadian the chance to make the deciding set truly competitive was cruel on someone who had played so magnificently, yet Murray had been his equal throughout. He actually won a higher percentage of first-serve points than Raonic, and won two out of every three points on his much maligned second serve.
Murray also kept his emotions much more in check than he was able to earlier in the week: he will need a repeat performance come Sunday’s final.
Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash: “This match won’t have taken an awful lot out of Murray – the rallies weren’t that long. He was moving very well at the end and was playing confidently. He knows where he failed in last year’s final against Djokovic. He knows he must keep the pressure up and can’t afford any lapses.
“Last year he was at himself the whole time. He shouldn’t have been but he couldn’t stop himself and for his sake I’m hoping he has learnt the lessons from that and can control his emotions.”
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller: “Maybe last year Murray didn’t believe he could beat Djokovic, but now he’s more confident in his abilities and Djokovic has been a bit off-key at times, making 100 errors in his match against Gilles Simon.”
There will be live coverage of Djokovic v Murray on Radio 5 live from 08:15 GMT on Sunday and live text commentary on the BBC Sport website from 08:00 GMT.
Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza have won the Australian Open women’s doubles title to make it three Grand Slams in a row.
The top seeds beat Czech pair Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 in the final at Melbourne Park.
Switzerland’s Hingis and India’s Mirza, who had already won at Wimbledon and the US Open, will be targeting a clean sweep at the French Open.
Hingis now has five Australian Open women’s doubles titles.
She won in 1997, 1998 and 1999 with Natasha Zvereva, Mirjana Lucic and Anna Kournikova respectively and again in 2002 with Kournikova.
Hingis, 35, who is a former world number one in singles, has won:
Mirza has also enjoyed success in Melbourne before, winning the mixed doubles title in 2009 with fellow Indian Mahesh Bhupathi.
The 29-year-old, from Hyderabad, also won the mixed doubles titles at the 2012 French Open and the 2014 US Open.
“Thank you to my partner, we’ve had an incredible year, we just keep going and going,” said Mirza.
“She’s an amazing champion, but I’ve gotten to know her as a person and it’s a privilege to play with her.”
Mirza is also through to this year’s mixed doubles semis with Ivan Dodig.
We’re impatient, tennis fans. When we catch a glimpse of the next so-called can’t miss/sure thing, the next teen phenom with pro-style stuff who’s sure to take the world by storm, we want results. And we want them now.
When Canada’s Milos Raonic, 6-foot-5 frame and loping, what-me-worry confidence, first burst onto the scene in 2011, we were convinced we were witnessing the start of a great Grand Slam career. His first ATP World Tour title came in an arena better known as The Shark Tank, home to the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.
Where better for a Canadian to break though than on a converted hockey rink?
Raonic, who is set to face Andy Murray on Friday night in the 2016 Australian Open semi-finals, would go on to win three straight titles in San Jose, his concussive serve turning heads and leading some, including 2011 runner-up Fernando Verdasco, to mutter, “When he serves all the time at 140 miles per hour, and every time there’s a chance it’s going to hit the line, you cannot even play tennis.”
Soon everyone was talking about the power-balling sensation who had moved from his native Montenegro to Canada when he was just three, nicknames fluttering around him like a good Ontario snowfall: Maple Leaf Missile, Bombardier Milos, The Big Leaf. But despite his steady rise in the Emirates ATP Rankings, his year-end mark inching toward the Top 10 (he reached a career-high No. 4 in May 2015), the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and Grand Slam titles weren’t piling up as quickly as we once believed they would.
The truth is he was still so young, his return game, his court sense still developing. Now 25, he’s become a much more complete player. Earlier this month, he scored only his second win over Roger Federer in 11 FedEx ATP Head2Heads, taking the Brisbane title. And adding ‘98 Roland Garros champ Carlos Moya to his team (he still works with Riccardo Piatti) seems to have brought a fresh perspective, a new on-court aggression that has Raonic building smarter points, attacking mid-court balls and even putting pressure on his opponents’ serves.
“I feel like I’m finding answers,” said Raonic, who is bidding to become the first Canadian man to reach a Grand Slam singles final. “I’m taking care of my serve. I’m creating opportunities on the return. I’m reacting much better, getting a lot more returns back in, putting more pressure on my opponents, so eventually the opportunities are coming to me. So I think it’s just really about keeping that cycle going forward. It’s not a question of will I create opportunities. I feel like I’m playing good enough tennis. I feel like I can. The question is will I make use of them?”
Into only the second major semi-final of his eight-year professional career (‘14 Wimbledon), the injury-free Raonic has perhaps never been better equipped to deliver on the big stage. But to reach his first Grand Slam final, he’ll first have to get past World No. 2 Murray. He’s done it before, including a fourth-round win over the Scotsman at Indian Wells in 2014, but never at this level. They’ve met at a major only once before, Murray winning in straight sets on his way to his first Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2012.
Raonic is 1-12 against Top-2 opposition overall, with his only victory coming against Federer in the quarter-finals in Paris in 2014. He has lost all three of his career meetings with Top-2 players at the Grand Slams in straight sets.
Murray, a four-time finalist in Melbourne, is still seeking his first Australian Open trophy. He finished as runner-up to Federer in 2010, and to Novak Djokovic in 2011, 2013 and 2015.
“Raonic is a big server and tries to play short points,” said Murray. “Milos started this year extremely well. He was unfortunate last year with some injuries. Had a few physical issues. I played him in Madrid and he was struggling a little bit there. Then I think he had the surgery on his foot and missed the French and maybe Wimbledon as well. He’s obviously fit and healthy now and playing well.”
Murray, of course, is one of the tour’s premier returners. He is more than capable of neutralising a power server like Raonic and bringing points back to neutral ground. So the Canadian will have to prove himself on the ground against the always-fit 28-year-old Brit, showing us that he is, in fact, the player we always thought he could be.
World No. 1 accentuates the positive in life atop Emirates ATP Rankings
When you’ve gone from hunter to hunted, as Novak Djokovic has since getting his first intoxicating taste of No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings back in July 2011, you learn to deal with pressure in ways you never imagined.
Not everyone is built for it over the long haul.
Chile’s Marcelo Rios spent six weeks at No. 1 in 1998. Spain’s Carlos Moya, who recently joined Milos Raonic‘s coaching team, lasted two weeks in ‘99; countryman Juan Carlos Ferrero eight in ‘03. Of course, most players never even get a sniff at No. 1. But Djokovic, now in his 183rd week atop the charts, has shown that he is indeed up for the task. As he’s said, the more he achieves in this sport, the more the expectations, the pressures — both from himself and from others — mount. In his words, they come “in big portions.” But whether it was his upbringing amid war and uncertainty; marriage, fatherhood or just the natural maturity that comes at 28 after years of globetrotting as a touring pro, the Serb has found a way to deal with all that lay before him.
Video courtesy AusOpen.com
“I think Djokovic is certainly mature and conditioned to all the pressures that are in tennis today,” Hall of Famer Rod Laver told ATPWorldTour.com. “And there’s a lot more pressure today than when I was playing.”
Much attention is paid to Djokovic’s record against his chief rivals. Following Thursday night’s 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 defeat of Roger Federer in the Australian Open semis, he has the upper hand against the Swiss at 23-22 in FedEx ATP Head2Heads. He’s 24-23 against Rafael Nadal, his dominant 6-1, 6-2 victory over the Spaniard in the Doha final coming “as close to perfection as it can get.” He’s 21-9 against Andy Murray; 19-4 against Stan Wawrinka. But it’s his performance against a more ethereal opponent that may matter the most.
“At the end of the day, you’re battling yourself the most,” Djokovic asserted. “There are so many players out there that are hitting the ball well. Whether or not you’re able to cope with the pressure in these particular moments, fighting against some of the best players in the world for the major trophies, there’s a lot at stake. Emotions are going up and down. It’s important to keep it together. You go throughout the match, and even before the match, through different thought processes. Even though sometimes it seems unnatural, you need to keep pushing yourself to be on the positive side.”
A prime example of that positive thinking is the way he stayed in the moment against Federer in last summer’s US Open final. It sure sounded as if all 24,000 Ashe Stadium ticketholders were pulling for his ever-popular opponent, but Djokovic kept his composure en route to a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 triumph.
“I try not to focus on that,” he said. “I feel like I’m enjoying lots of support around the world. When I play Roger, it’s something that is expected in a way considering his career and his greatness on and off the court, what he has done for the sport. He’s loved. He’s appreciated. He’s respected around the world. For me, it’s normal in a way. I’m trying to enjoy my time, to do the best that I can with the tennis racquet, but also focus on the positive energy rather than negative, rather than getting frustrated for that. There’s no reason.”
Djokovic admittedly has had an up-and-down run to the 2016 final in Melbourne, where he’s shooting for his sixth title in nine years. He didn’t drop a set through three rounds, then committed an uncharacteristic 100 unforced errors in clawing his way past France’s Gilles Simon in five sets 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. He was hardly at his best in dismissing Kei Nishikori in the quarters. But he clearly found his form against Federer, especially in the first two sets, which he wrapped up in a mere 54 minutes.
“I’ve had matches where I’ve played similar tennis,” he said. “But I think against Roger, these first two sets have been probably the best two sets I’ve played against him overall I think throughout my career. I’ve had some moments against him in sets where I’ve played on a high level, but this was a different level than from before.”
“Psychologically, I did not allow myself to have big oscillations,” he added. “Your best changes day to day. It’s not always possible to play this way. You strive to be the best you can be. When you’re playing one of your top rivals, somebody of Roger’s resume, of course it requires a lot of focus, determination, and a different preparation for that matchup than most of the other matches. So that’s why I came out with a great deal of self-belief and confidence and intensity, concentration. I mean, I played flawless tennis for first two sets, no doubt about it.”
Can the 10-time Grand Slam champion maintain this dominance in the years to come?
“It’s hard to say what the future brings,” Djokovic said on Thursday. “Obviously, tennis is different from what it was when I was coming up 10 years ago. It’s more difficult for young players to break through and actually challenge the best players in the world. It’s more physical nowadays and more demanding from each and every aspect.
“There are cases and players like Boris Becker and [Michael] Chang, who were 16-, 17-, 18-year-old Grand Slam winners. It’s hard to say if we’re going to have that or not in the future. It just really depends. The future is not in our hands. It’s expected to see new faces, a new generation of players, guys like [Nick] Kyrgios, [Alexander] Zverev. Those are players who are showing some big game, big tennis, and they are able quality-wise to challenge the top players. But to sustain that level and throughout the year to be actually consistent requires a lot more than just a good game. I’m going to try to stay here as long as possible. That’s from my perspective what I can influence, what I can do. Whether or not I’m going to be dominant in the years to come, I don’t know. I cannot give you an answer on that. I can try to do my best to try to keep playing on this level.”
Serena Williams will be looking for her seventh career title at the Australian Open and 22nd Grand Slam winner’s…
Milos Raonic has taken the Australian Open by storm heading into semifinal action, which begins on Thursday and will conclude…
| Australian Open |
|---|
| Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 18-31 January |
| Coverage: Live radio and text commentary on all Andy Murray matches, plus highlights on BBC TV and BBC Sport website. Listen to Tennis Breakfast on Radio 5 live sports extra and the BBC Sport website from 08:00 GMT. |
Britain’s Andy Murray plays Canada’s Milos Raonic on Friday for a place in Sunday’s Australian Open final.
Four-time runner-up Murray is bidding to reach his fifth final in Melbourne, where Novak Djokovic awaits.
Big-serving Raonic, the 13th seed, is chasing a spot in his first Grand Slam final having seen off Frenchman Gael Monfils in the quarter-finals.
Murray, 28, and Raonic, 25, have played each other eight times on Tour, with honours even.
Full commentary on the match is available on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra from 08:30 GMT, with television highlights following on BBC Two at 14:00 GMT.
By his own admission, Murray has struggled to keep his mind on the job in Melbourne, despite advancing to the last four of the season’s first major.
The world number two’s father-in-law, Nigel Sears, collapsed earlier in the tournament, while his wife Kim is heavily pregnant back home in Britain.
Murray shrugged off the distractions to beat tough Spaniard David Ferrer in four sets in the quarter-finals but Raonic, who is in the form of his career, could pose a bigger threat.
Raonic, who reached the last four at Wimbledon in 2014, has long been tipped as the next big thing and under new coach Carlos Moya, he might be about to deliver on his promise.
The 6ft 5in Canadian was once written off as one-dimensional. However, he beat 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka in five sets in the fourth round using aggressive serve-and-volley tactics.
Roger Federer, who lost to Djokovic in their semi-final on Thursday, was certainly impressed by Raonic’s improvement after losing to him in the final of the Brisbane International earlier this month.
“For a big guy he moves well,” said 17-time major winner Federer. “He’s improved his fitness the last few years. Also, tactically he’s better now than he’s ever been.”
Murray versus Raonic promises to be an intriguing clash of styles, with power-player Raonic’s pitted against one of the game’s best returners and defenders.
Also one of the tour’s finest passers, Murray will be keen to test Raonic’s commitment to coming into the net early in the match.
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
Murray’s experience could count for a great deal, but Raonic has given notice this month that a maiden Grand Slam final may not be that far away.
He beat Roger Federer to win the title in Brisbane, and has knocked out the 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka en route to the last four in Melbourne.
His serve has found a pleasing groove and his net play is hugely advanced, having decided to dedicate much more time in practice to it.
But Murray played very well in the final two sets of his quarter-final victory over Ferrer and has won four of his five previous Australian Open semi-finals.