Murray beats Raonic in 5 to reach 5th Australian Open final

Sunday night in Melbourne, Andy meets world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the men’s final, due for a 7:30 p.m. local start.

Thankfully that is unlikely to be the kind of thinking that will be creeping into Murray’s head over the next 24 hours.

The longest win streak ever belongs to Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver, who won an unprecedented 109 straight matches over a two-year period from 1983-1985.

A gallant Milos Raonic was left heartbroken by his Australian Open semi-final loss to Andy Murray (right) yesterday, having pushed the Scot to his limits before a leg injury took the game out of his hands.

The four-time runner-up reached his fifth final at Melbourne Park after overcoming the gallant Canadian 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2 in four hours, three minutes on Rod Laver Arena. “Maybe he came back when he thought we had a chance”.

With everything going on at home and off the court here over the fortnight, the Frenchwoman has been instrumental in keeping Murray focused.

Andy stayed up late into the night to watch his older brother’s triumph – but was urged to head back to bed. To him, he has every opportunity to beat Djokovic on Sunday if he’s playing his best tennis.

“It’s only one month, but I think we can retire now, huh?”

The experience of losing in the final four times before would be something that could inspire him, rather than fill him with dread, former world No 1 Mauresmo said.

“(I’ve) been in the situation before where (I) haven’t won specific tournaments, like Roland Garros, for example, against players like (Rafael) Nadal who were dominating there”, Djokovic said.

Murray had lost in the finals with John Peers at Wimbledon and the US Open previous year but with new partner Soares, he made it third time lucky as the pair edged a thriller 2-6 6-4 7-5.

His brother Jamie yesterday became the first Briton to win the Australian Open men’s doubles title in more than 80 years.

“He does everything so well”, she said.

“But for it to be the first time to happen is incredible”.

That would give Djokovic his sixth title by default but the 10-time Grand Slam champion would clearly prefer to earn it.

It all means he has a 21-9 winning record over Great Britain’s Davis Cup hero but it was not always that way as the Monte Carlo resident lost five out of six major finals between 2012 and 2014.

“Regardless of today’s result, it’s been hard”, he said about the two-week tournament.

The fifth set mirrored the first, but it was Murray who played like a champion.

“That is what he does”.

Murray, who was broken just once in the match, has now won 18 of his past 22 matches to go five sets, a remarkable record, testament to his mental and physical fitness. “We had them on the ropes in the second set and they hung in there”, Nestor said of Murray and Soares.

“There has been a lot of talks about his second serve, and I’m sure he and his team are very much aware of that”, Djokovic said. “There are not many tennis players that have come out of Scotland”. She is bidding for a 22nd career Grand Slam title, which would match Steffi Graf for most all time.