By Bill Scott Jan 27, 2012, 14:19 GMT
Melbourne - Novak Djokovic struggled for nearly five hours into Saturday morning to defeat Andy Murray 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 7-5 for a place in his third final at the Australian Open.
The 2008 and 2011 tournament champion struggled with breathing against sometimes-inspired play from Murray before finally prevailing in a demanding physical battle.
Djokovic will face Rafael Nadal in Sunday's final after the Spaniard beat Roger Federer in their Thursday semi-final.
The contest went through major twists, turns and momentum shifts, with Murray rallying from 2-5 down in the fifth set and breaking Djokovic as the top seed served for the win.
Djokovic battled on to close it out, breaking Murray in the final game following a hold where he saved three break points. The excited Serb produced a volley winner to end the four-hour,50-minute drama. Murray had won nine of his last 10 matches that went to five sets.
'I was trying to focus on every point,' said the exhausted winner of a match featuring 50 break points and only 18 successful conversions. 'It's difficult to describe my feelings.
'We were both fighting so hard, the result says it all. It was such a physical match, full credit to Andy for coming from 2-5 down. Mentally it was tough.'
Djokovic, winner of three Grand Slams in 2011, has a chance to join and elite group of Rod Laver - watching in the stands - Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Pete Sampras in winning four straight majors.
'I'm in another final and I'm extremely delighted,' said Djokovic. 'It is always a challenge to play Rafa. I will try to recover and be ready.'
Djokovic ran away with the opening set, winning it in what turned out to be a relatively speedy 45 minutes, but the pace of play slowed considerably from that point.
The second set dragged for more than an hour with a run of three consecutive service breaks with Murray finally easing through. The third set began with an 18-minute game in which the Scot held off five break points for 1-0.
Djokovic's fitness began to look suspect while Murray may have felt his intake of huge amounts of energy fluid mixed in the player box by new coach Ivan Lendl and sent to the court.
At one point, the Scottish fourth seed actually took a drink in between points after carrying his bottle to the back of the court at the changeover.
Though Djokovic looked to be trouble with the breathing problems which featured in his previous win, the defending champion played bravely.
Murray moved into promising position, saving three Djokovic set points by nailing winners in the tenth game. But the two-time finalist let it slip after breaking for 6-5 by losing his serve and sending the set into a tiebreaker.
A cross-court wide by Djokovic after 88 minutes gave Murray a two sets to one lead, with the Scot managing conversions only two of 11 break points chances during the marathon.
The Serb suddenly exploded into top for in the fourth set, breaking Murray twice for 4-0 in a game of two aces before throwing the struggle into a deciding fifth set with a backhand winner down the line to conclude in just 24 minutes before the start of the dramatic fifth set.
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