Scot seemed to toy with Japan's Kei Nishikori at times as he headed into final four in Melbourne for third time running
If it's possible to be relaxed and vulnerable at the same time, Andy Murray was that tennis beast on a mild afternoon on Rod Laver Arena as he booked his third consecutive semi-final place in the Australian Open with a straight sets win over the promising Japanese player Kei Nishikori.
There were moments during the two hours and 12 minutes they shared on court in the first men's quarter-final of the day when it looked as if the Scot was enjoying himself so much he was deliberately prolonging the fight, before closing it out 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.
"[There were] a lot of good points," Murray said. "Most of the fun points, he was winning, so I was trying to keep them as short as possible. I played a bit better in the third, but it was tough. I need to serve better. I didn't serve particularly well, but the returning was good."
Murray was in command of the match but not always in control of his tennis. It is unlikely Ivan Lendl, watching from Murray's box full-time now after they confirmed their partnership this month, will have been amused, for instance, by an unnecessary and poorly executed running tweener at 0-15 and 3-1 up in a peculiar first set. There were other similarly slack strokes at that stage of the match that suggested Murray was struggling for intensity against an outclassed opponent.
It came back to him in open play, but his serve continued to let him down. He got only 44 per cent of first serves in, worrying stat ahead of the semi-finals. He won 58 per cent of the points on his second serve, however, as he slowed the pace and went for accuracy. Interestingly, he has the most consistent second serve of all those left in the tournament; now he needs to perk it up a bit as a weapon.
Fortunately for Murray, Nishikori's serve lacked bite, as he averaged 175kph on his first effort, a very ordinary 138kph on the second.
Murray executed some blistering ground strokes on both wings to throw Nishikori out of his educated stride and seemed to be cruising to an easy conclusion to the frame but kept letting his opponent back into the match. Nishikori had seven break points in the set but could convert none of them, which described the gulf between them, although he also hit some marvelous winners.
Neither could hold serve at the start of the second until Murray pulled away at 3-1 and wrapped it up 6-3.
A highlights package of the match might make it look like a special contest, but that was so only in snatches of brilliance from both players. While Nishikori's fans thrilled by his victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga urged the world No 26 to rediscover the magic of that performance, it came fitfully and not always when he needed it. Murray more consistently conjured up the required effort from unpromising situations, almost as if testing himself.
The third set saw Nishikori's level drop and Murray pull away ? although a bizarre choice of shot on match point ? an angled chip that Nishikori rescued, instead of the slightly more difficult but clear winning option to the open court ? might lead to a post-mortem with Lendl on tactics.
Nevertheless he's through and he's in good shape and looking confident. He just needs to find some fizz on his serve and that elusive secret to all matches, focus.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jan/25/andy-murray-australian-open-nishikori
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