The two kept even early on at 2-all.  But that was as far as it would go, as Murray went on fire the rest of the set.  Neither Murray nor Djokovic had played exceptionally well to get to this point.  Murray, in particular, had seemed a bit nervous in an effort to close his match against Tomas Berdych.  Djokovic hadn’t played an exceptionally difficult opponent either despite beating Tipsarevic, a top-ten player, in the previous round.

What kind of match might Murray play against Djokovic?  Historically, Murray has played Djokovic pretty close, the 2010 Australian Open final being something of an exception.  The two hardly played each other in 2010 and 2011.  In 2011, Murray met Djokovic in the semis of Rome and had a chance to serve out the match.  In Cincy, Murray won when Djokovic retired.  The two didn’t play each other the rest of 2011, partly due to Murray not playing so well after Shanghai and partly due to Djokovic not playing well at Basel onward.

The two met in the semifinals at Melbourne.  Murray started off sluggishly, and it looked bad for Murray.  But he fought back to level the match at two sets each.  He got down a break in the fifth, but managed to break back to tie it 5-all before losing his serve once again.

Murray’s strategy was to not create too many angles and keep the ball deep.  By playing shots with slight angles up the middle, Djokovic had little to work with.  When Djokovic opened up the court, Murray would then work the angles.  It didn’t help that Djokovic struggled to keep his shots in play as well.  Murray played aggressive on the return and secured  two breaks to take the first set, 6-2.

Murray also broke early in the second set, but when it came time to serve out the match, Murray was broken back.  However, at 6-5, Murray got up 15-40 on Djokovic’s serve and closed out the match.

This is good news for both Murray and Djokovic.  It’s good news for Murray for obvious reasons.  Having been mired at number 4 for years, Murray wants to believe he can beat a top 4 opponent, especially Djokovic.  It’s also good news for Djokovic.  Last year, the pressure of having to be undefeated appeared to wear Djokovic down.  With this year being an Olympic year, there’s less pressure to play well week-in and week-out.  Focus on the Slams and the Olympics.

In the other semis, Federer and del Potro are even with the first set tiebreak likely.