This time he would be the one who snatch the early ascendency as he secured the sole break in a slug fest of a first set, devoid of any real quality, and looked on course to reach his sixth Australian Open semi final.
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After the drama of his father-in-law Nigel Sears collapsing in the stands on Saturday night, the Olympic champion is now looking to re-focus on the task of reaching his fifth Australian Open final.
Ferrer had been the only player left in the men’s draw who had not dropped a set in the tournament, giving up just 48 games, but each win was fashioned in the same dogged fashion, whatever the level of opponent, and any opponent would reckon tiredness should kick in sooner or later.
Kerber went down a break in the second set before winning five consecutive games and saving five set points before beating Azarenka, the result coming as a surprise despite the difference in seedings.
Whilst he did this, Ferrer raced to the net and greeted Murray’s return with a delicate volley which should have killed the match, and given him the break back in the process.
Not for nearly forty years has Great Britain been represented by both male and female grand slam semi-finalists in the same tournament. “He fought right to the end and made it very tough for me”, said Murray.
But Ferrer, along with Roger Federer who is 34, appears to have paved the way, with five of the world’s current top 10 aged 30 or older, and only one – Japan’s Kei Nishikori – younger than 28.
Back on the courts, Murray’s match with Ferrer involved plenty of long rallies.
Murray beat Ferrer fairly comfortably in four sets at the same stage of the French Open a year ago but the world No 2 is yet to find his best form in Melbourne.
It took Murray almost 20 minutes of the match on a sweltering day – the forecast storms failing to arrive as scheduled – to crack the Spaniard’s resolve in a drawn-out third game in which the net took a proper pounding.
And now they were joined in battle for the 19th time, Murray a victor 12 already, three in slams.
Ferrer proved a difficult proposition for Murray, relentlessly slugging it out from the baseline and keeping the Scot working hard in a physically demanding match on Rod Laver Arena. “She definitely wasn’t making it easy for me”.
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Konta, the first British woman to advance to a Grand Slam semifinal since Jo Durie at the 1983 U.S. Open, will play Angelique Kerber, who beat two-time champion Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 7-5. “I felt I did a little bit too many unforced errors in the key moments”. “I am not proud of that”.
