2013 Australian Open semis: History supports Murray

24 January, 2013

Andy Murray will be a happy man if he maintains his record of not losing a single set in the ongoing Australian Open 2013. But, he will face a major obstacle in the form of Roger Federer during the semi-final of the competition. It is going to be a mother of all battles with both the players in prime form.

It has to be mentioned that Federer does not hold an impressive record over the Brit, who leads 10-9 in the matches they have played so far. But surprisingly, Murray has only turned out to be second best in the grand slam fixtures, which could be a worrying factor for him. Even their recent encounter in the 2012 ATP World Tour finals saw the Swiss turn out triumphant.

But, there are instances when Murray has got the upper hand of the Swiss like the 2012 London Olympics gold medal match, where he defeated Federer. If he comes up with such kind of performance, there can be no force in world Tennis that will obstruct Murray's advances to the final. After his gold medal winning performance, his confidence has reached to another level, which can be justified when he won his first grand slam few months later – 2012 US Open.

Andy Murray has looked a class apart in the 2013 Australian Open, where he has not had to struggle against any of his opponents in the championship. He has won his matches in a comfortable manner. But to be fair, Murray has had an easy run up to the semis, where he did not face any big player apart from the 14 seed G. Simon, whom he brushed aside easily in no time.

The same cannot be said for the Swiss, who has met a number of world class players before reaching the semis. N. Davydenko, B. Tomic, M. Raonic and J. Tsonga are some of the players who lost to Federer in the competition. His ultimate test came against the Frenchmen Tsonga, who took the match to five sets. Playing against such tough opponents before facing Murray could be a good thing for Federer and perhaps he is in the best shape for the semi-finals.

The match just calls for an exciting encounter between one of the established players of world tennis, Federer and the other – an upcoming player, Murray who has been consistently proving himself as a big grand slam player.