Murray ‘in form of life’ for Slam bid

ANDY MURRAY believes he is in the form of his life after he booked his place in the final of the Australian Open with a four-set win over Marin Cilic.

The fifth-seeded Scot, inspired by a match-turning flash of inspiration in the second set, reached his second major final with a 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-2 victory in a shade over three hours on Rod Laver Arena.

It was the first time Murray had lost a set at the tournament and after breezing through the draw and knocking defending champion Rafael Nadal out in the previous round, the Scot admits he is in rare touch.

“This is the best I’ve played at a slam,” he said. “Obviously the match against Rafa was great. Tonight, the majority of the match was great as well. I feel good. Physically I’m going to be fresh for the final.”

Murray will play the winner of Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Sunday night’s final.

Murray lost to Federer in his only previous major final at the US Open in 2008 and admitted he would like the chance to meet the Swiss again.

“Federer’s record in slams is amazing. So it would be incredibly tough to beat him,” he said. “But if I was to win a slam against him in the final, it would make it extra special.”

Murray had looked in trouble early against the 14th seed Cilic as he was broken twice to concede the first set. The Scot was showing signs of frustration as the Croatian dominated the match with his booming forehand to run Murray around the court.

The momentum of the match turned, however, on a single moment of brilliance from Murray as he grabbed the opening break, and the initiative, in the second set.

Murray first ran down a net cord and when Cilic then shovelled a lob over him he somehow made enough ground to allow him to flick a forehand past his stunned rival.

“That was really important because I don’t want to say the match was slipping away from me, but the momentum was definitely with him,” he said.

* World number one Serena Williams will need to end the fairytale return of Justine Henin if she is to successfully defend her Australian Open title after they reached the final with contrasting wins yesterday.

Williams, who is bidding to win her fifth title at Melbourne, needed two tie-break sets to overcome the plucky challenge of Li Na 7-6 (7/4) 7-6 (7-1) in a shade over two hours.

Henin spent less than half that time on court as she breezed through her semi-final against the unseeded Zheng Jie 6-1 6-0 in just 51 minutes.

It was by far Henin’s easiest match of her difficult passage to the final that has seen her beat world number five Elena Dementieva, Yanina Wickmayer (16) and Nadia Petrova (19) before facing the daunting prospect of the world number one in the final.

The 27-year-old’s run has reprised memories of her countrywoman Kim Clijsters’ own remarkable return at the US Open last year, when she returned from retirement and becoming a mother to lift the trophy at Flushing Meadows.