Australian Open: Andy Murray's previous grand slam final appearances

Andy Murray will compete in his third grand slam final on Sunday when he takes on Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. Let's hope it goes better than his two previous attempts.

Pain of defeat: Andy Murray acknowledges the crowd after losing to Roger Federer in the final of the Australian Open last year Photo: AFP

US Open 2008 - Federer beat Murray 6-2 7-5 6-2

Andy Murray’s first appearance in a grand slam final, at the 2008 US Open, went by so quickly that he can hardly remember a thing. “That first final I played against Federer, I didn’t know what was going on. It just went by really quickly,” Murray recalled.

Federer had the advantage of a day’s rest before the final, which, because of the rain at Flushing Meadows, was played on an unscheduled third Monday.

Murray’s semi-final victory over Rafael Nadal was spread over a couple of days, having started on Super Saturday and finished on Sunday, while Federer had completed his win over Novak Djokovic on Saturday.

Yet, even if they had both had similar preparation for the final, Federer would almost certainly still have beaten Murray at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Murray was playing an opponent whose victory made him the first man since Bill Tilden in 1924 to win five consecutive US Open titles (Tilden won six in succession from 1920 and 1925), as well as the first to win two different slams five times in a row, having already achieved a golden five on Centre Court at the All England Club.

Murray, who was the first British man to appear in a slam final since Greg Rusedski finished as the runner-up to Pat Rafter at the 1997 US Open, was beaten in straight sets.

Australian Open 2010 - Federer beat Murray 6-3, 6-4, 7-6

Roger Federer suggested before last year’s Australian Open final that Andy Murray would be attempting to become Britain’s first male winner of a grand slam for “around 150,000 years”.

That was bettered by Murray’s remark during the post-final ceremonies. A year after Federer had broken down after a five-set defeat to Rafael Nadal, and told the crowd on the Rod Laver Arena, “God, it’s killing me”, Murray also lost control of his bottom lip during his thank-you speech.

Murray might have lost another grand slam final in straight sets to Federer, yet he still had something to add to the evening and he returned to the microphone, his eyes pink and puffy, and said: “I can cry like Roger, it’s a pity I can’t play like him.”

Perhaps, if Murray had taken the third set — he held a 5-2 lead in games, and could not convert any one of his five points for the tiebreak — this could have ended very differently.

As it was, Federer stood on the podium holding his sixteenth grand slam trophy and Murray sobbed into the mike. The tears, and the self-deprecating humour, would have done much to soften Murray’s image, though.

Ferrer ends Nadal's bid for 'Rafa Slam'

MELBOURNE: David Ferrer dumped injury-hit Rafael Nadal out of the Australian Open in straight sets today, ending the world number one's bid for a historic sweep of the Grand Slam titles. The grimacing Nadal was in trouble right from the 18-minute second game, but despite repeated medical attention and a strapped left thigh he grimly battled to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 quarter-final defeat.

In pic: Under pressure ... Rafael Nadal during a break in his straight-sets loss to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in Melbourne last night. Photo: AFP

Nadal's shock loss comes on the exact anniversary of last year's injury pull-out in the quarter-finals against Andy Murray, which also came on Australia Day as celebratory fireworks lit up the Melbourne night sky. The demise of Nadal, 24, halts his quest for the "Rafa Slam", a non-calendar year Grand Slam which would have united the four major titles for the first time since Rod Laver in 1969. "It's not easy because Rafael is a gentleman and he was playing injured and we are friends," Ferrer said. "He was injured in the first set but I played my game, I fight a lot and sometimes it's not easy."

Nadal stands at nine Grand Slam titles and is the youngest man to win all four of the big tournaments. However, another injury setback will revive doubts about his longevity in the game. Spain's Ferrer will face Andy Murray in Friday's semi-final after the British fifth seed outgunned rising star Alexandr Dolgopolov. Ferrer has a 3-2 winning record against Murray but has never beaten him on hardcourt.

Murray, last year's runner-up to Roger Federer, dropped his first set of the year against Ukrainian shot-maker Dolgopolov, 22, who dominated a third-set tie-break before going down 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3. "It was very tough and every point was different, he hits the ball different to a lot of other players and I struggled a little bit with my rhythm early on," Murray said. "He came back at me well in the third set but I thought I did well enough."

Murray, 23, is now into his fifth Grand Slam semi-final as he bids to break a British men's major drought stretching back to Fred Perry's 1936 US Open win. Earlier three-time Grand Slam-winner Kim Clijsters beat Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to set up a heavyweight semi-final with world number two Vera Zvonareva, who downed Petra Kvitova 6-2, 6-4.

Zvonareva wore a black ribbon on her cap to support victims of Monday's deadly suicide bombing at Domodedovo airport in Moscow, her home city, which killed 35 and left her frantically calling relatives. "You're calling back home and making sure everyone is okay, the people that you know," she said. "I just tried to put it away. It happened, it is terrible. But you try to move on."

The 26-year-old remains on course for her third straight Grand Slam final, after losing to Serena Williams at Wimbledon and Clijsters at the US Open in September. Clijsters overcame a high error-rate to see off Radwanska, who played a limited game but stayed in the match with some scrambling defence, taking advantage of the Belgian's 37 unforced errors. "Everything has to be better (against Zvonareva)," said Clijsters, who beat the Russian in September's US Open final.

"I mean, serving, returning, the unforced errors. Everything has to be better." World number one Caroline Wozniacki will face China's Li Na in tomorrow's other semi-final, while defending champion Federer plays third seed Novak Djokovic in a mouth-watering men's last-four match-up. -AFP