The 13th seed with the powerful serve won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours, 17 minutes to reach what will be his second Grand Slam semi-final after Wimbledon 2014.
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The tie-break was tight but Murray surrendered the initiative by blazing a backhand volley wide before Ferrer won a 31-shot rally – the longest so far – to move 5-3 clear. With a victory, Raonic would go to his first semifinal at a Grand Slam event.
In keeping with the way this Australian Open has been going, Andy Murray was asked following a quarterfinal win Wednesday about the state of his game. Raonic is 4-4 in matches against Murray.
Goran Ivanisevic is not one to shy away from speaking his mind.
In the darker moments, when the medical needs of his family were becoming more urgent, Andy Murray thought about leaving the Australian Open before the fourth round.
“Obviously the last few days have been tough and maybe I hadn’t played my best tennis and managed to get through”.
“I found it a bit easier to return (after the roof was closed)”, said Murray.
Ivanisevic said, “You put some names in the computer and the computer puts your name out, like you’re serial killer and then everybody’s chasing you”. I was just happy.
As for whether it exists today, Ivanisevic said it “probably” does on the lower-level circuits. No players were identified and no specifics were published. “It’s worse than taking doping”.
Murray and a much lesser-known British player, Johanna Konta, advanced to the semifinals Wednesday. Murray, who said he was drained after his previous match against Bernard Tomic, showed good energy throughout Wednesday despite dissatisfaction with himself. Konta is the first British woman to advance to this stage of a Grand Slam since 1983. And his brother Jamie is already through to the semi-finals of the doubles with Bruno Soares.
The pair split the opening two sets of their quarter-final and Murray had just broken for a 3-1 lead in the third when organisers delayed the match to shut the roof with a heavy storm approaching from the west.
She has won fans at Melbourne Park with her athleticism and mental composure on the court and good humor and a polite humility in interviews after winning.
The 25-year-old, unbeaten this year, negated the Frenchman’s mobility with his powerful serve and fierce forehands to become the first Canadian man to reach the last four at Melbourne Park.
Murray’s wife, Kim, is due to have their first baby next month and he promised he’d fly back to Britain at any time if she went into labor – even if it meant missing a chance at a drought-breaking fifth Australian final.
Afterwards, as she thanked the crowd, “Konta was glowing, exhausted and hugely satisfied – as well as proudly British, despite numerous attempts by the Australian media to press her into a long-lost allegiance to the country of her birth”, says The Guardian.
She will play No. 7 Angelique Kerber in the semifinals.
The bottom half of the draw is Azarenka’s to lose, the former world No. 1 and two-time Australian Open champion anchoring a section that has seen seed after seed fall. Murray was grumbling at his support team at this point, but he held firm to consolidate that earlier break. – China’s Zhang Shuai is happy in defeat.
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The other semifinalists – six-time champion Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska – were determined on Tuesday.
