2013 Australian Open

[Hiber-nation]

That was brilliant. Mind you watching Murray stresses me out as mch as watching Hibs!

What time is the final on?

[JimBHibees]

What a fantastic tennis player Murray is. He has really upped his game and is much more solid and consistent since Lendl has come on the scene. Was the better player for most of it and but for 2 poor tie breaks would have won in less than 5. Should be a cracker on Sunday and Djokovic will be fav but think Andy will give him a great match.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

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That was brilliant. Mind you watching Murray stresses me out as mch as watching Hibs!

What time is the final on?

0830 Sun morning, could be a bit Lionel after the LHSC Burns Night!

[Hainan Hibs]

Fantastic to watch, it's great to see how Murray has developed in the past year.

Djokovic will be favourite and I think he will win but with a good rest and if he plays at the top of his game Murray is in with a shot.

[Hiber-nation]

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0830 Sun morning, could be a bit Lionel after the LHSC Burns Night!

Cheers...hangover hell for me too but have to do it

[Sir David Gray]

Delighted with that result. Murray is slowly but surely building up the consistency needed to be considered truly world class.

In 8 out of the last 9 Grand Slams, he's reached at least the semi finals and in the other one, he reached the quarter finals of the French Open, which is probably his weakest Grand Slam, so by anyone's standards that is very impressive.

He looks a different player now to the one that was playing even this time last year. At long last, he actually seems to believe that he belongs up there alongside Federer, Djokovic and Nadal. I don't think he really thought of himself to be in that bracket before and almost seemed a bit starstruck whenever he was playing them.

I think this result will be another barrier that has been overcome by Murray in that he has finally beaten Federer in a Grand Slam for the first time.

Now for Sunday's final against Novak Djokovic and he will face someone who is undoubtedly the best tennis player in the world, someone who has been in outstanding form for the past couple of years.

However, he knows that he can beat Djokovic in a Grand Slam final after his victory at the US Open last year. That will hopefully give him confidence for Sunday but it's going to be so tough. After coming so close to defeat last week against Stanislas Wawrinka, Djokovic has never really looked back after hammering Tomas Berdych and David Ferrer. His fitness levels are unbelievable and his shot making abilities are something else.

I feel that Murray needs to play quite a varied match on Sunday. Djokovic will be more than happy chasing balls down and going from side to side all day long. Murray's not too bad at that either, mind you, but Djokovic is unlikely to be beaten if the match gets played in that kind of fashion.

Not sure if it'll be quite as long as last year's Australian Open final, which lasted almost 6 hours, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a five set classic going for about 5 hours.

All the best, Andy!

Get some rest tomorrow and put everything into this one last match!

[Sir David Gray]

Victoria Azarenka won her second Grand Slam after defending her Australian Open title today against Li Na.

Li Na won the opening set but Azarenka came back to win 4-6 6-4 6-3.

[lyonhibs]

4-4 in the 1st set. Murray making bloody hard work of holding his serve though!!

[Twiglet]

Murray wins the first set on the tie-break 7-2. Only been watching since 4-4 in the first but thought both players weren't serving that well (particularly Djoko). Hope it gets better...

[jodjam]

Mon Andy. Wee straight sets win so I can get to the footlights to watch footy :)

[Houchy]

I'm feeling sick just watching this pair running about like this. These guys must be the fittest athletes going.
I think, unfortunately, Andy's feet have finally cost him this title.

[Sir David Gray]

Djokovic has really upped his game since winning the second set tie break. He's just so tough to break down.

Only see one winner from here sadly as Djokovic breaks to go 2-1 up in the 4th set.

[Sir David Gray]

That, as they say, is that.

Double break for Djokovic and he goes 4-1 up.

Quite a sad ending to this match for Murray.

[Pretty Boy]

I blame the feather.

[Sir David Gray]

Djokovic wins 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-2 to become the first player to win 3 consecutive Australian Open titles since Roy Emerson in 1965.

Well played Djokovic. Totally deserved it considering how well he's played since the end of the second set. It's tough for Murray especially if he's not 100% physically.

It's been an awful weekend for sport so far, can Hibs salvage it?

[DarrenSQH]

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I blame the feather.

Spot on. The luck just was on novaks side today.

[NOLA]

A match too far for murray beaten by the wannabe scot Jocky Veitch.

[Sylar]

Think Murray's harder pathway to the final showed in the end as he ran out of steam. Greatest of respect to the opposition Djokovic came up against on his path to retaining the trophy, but he wasn't particularly challenged.

Both guys played some outstanding tennis in the first two sets but Djokovic managed to find another gear in the third and fourth sets.

Murray can be proud of getting to yet another GS final though and I doubt it'll be his last this year. I fancy we might see a rematch of today at least another twice this season.

[scoopyboy]

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Think Murray's harder pathway to the final showed in the end as he ran out of steam. Greatest of respect to the opposition Djokovic came up against on his path to retaining the trophy, but he wasn't particularly challenged.

Both guys played some outstanding tennis in the first two sets but Djokovic managed to find another gear in the third and fourth sets.

Murray can be proud of getting to yet another GS final though and I doubt it'll be his last this year. I fancy we might see a rematch of today at least another twice this season.

Disagree strongly against your first bit, everything fell into Andy's path. Up to the semi he only faced one seed (a wounded no 14 seed) and to face an unseeded player these days in a slam is vurtually unheard of.

Agree with the rest however.

[Sylar]

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Disagree strongly against your first bit, everything fell into Andy's path. Up to the semi he only faced one seed (a wounded no 14 seed) and to face an unseeded player these days in a slam is vurtually unheard of.

Agree with the rest however.

The semi can hardly be discounted though, can it?

My point (though vague) was specific to the semi-final contests, where Murray certainly had a more arduous task...it certainly appeared that Murray tired quicker today to me anyway!

[Sir David Gray]

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Think Murray's harder pathway to the final showed in the end as he ran out of steam. Greatest of respect to the opposition Djokovic came up against on his path to retaining the trophy, but he wasn't particularly challenged.

Both guys played some outstanding tennis in the first two sets but Djokovic managed to find another gear in the third and fourth sets.

Murray can be proud of getting to yet another GS final though and I doubt it'll be his last this year. I fancy we might see a rematch of today at least another twice this season.

Can't really agree with that to be honest.

Up until he played Federer in the semis, Murray barely needed to get out of second gear in his first five matches. The fact that he went into the semis having not lost a single set in the entire tournament says it all.

Robin Haase, Joao Sousa, Ricardas Berankis, Gilles Simon and Jeremy Chardy were never going to be causing him any serious problems and it's a brilliant run of matches for someone like Murray to have in a Grand Slam.

Djokovic's run was, on paper, a lot more difficult. The match against Wawrinka speaks for itself and he should have lost that one and although he had convincing victories over Berdych and Ferrer, they are top quality opposition.

[Sylar]

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Can't really agree with that to be honest.

Up until he played Federer in the semis, Murray barely needed to get out of second gear in his first five matches. The fact that he went into the semis having not lost a single set in the entire tournament says it all.

Robin Haase, Joao Sousa, Ricardas Berankis, Gilles Simon and Jeremy Chardy were never going to be causing him any serious problems and it's a brilliant run of matches for someone like Murray to have in a Grand Slam.

Djokovic's run was, on paper, a lot more difficult. The match against Wawrinka speaks for itself and he should have lost that one and although he had convincing victories over Berdych and Ferrer, they are top quality opposition.

My point was specific to the semi-finals but it's not exactly clear from my post.

I simply meant that the harder match in the semi against Federer appeared to take it's toll whereas Novak looked like he had more in the tank than Andy.

I don't think fitness was the overarching reason why Murray lost this morning though - Djokovic just played some stellar tennis

[Sir David Gray]

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My point was specific to the semi-finals but it's not exactly clear from my post.

I simply meant that the harder match in the semi against Federer appeared to take it's toll whereas Novak looked like he had more in the tank than Andy.

I don't think fitness was the overarching reason why Murray lost this morning though - Djokovic just played some stellar tennis

I would agree with that.

Something that I disagree with is the fact that the Australian Open has the men's semis over two days and one player has an extra day's preparation for the final. In this instance, it was Djokovic who had the extra day's rest and I just think it's wrong. When there's a final to prepare for, both players should have the same amount of rest beforehand.

[scoopyboy]

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The semi can hardly be discounted though, can it?

My point (though vague) was specific to the semi-final contests, where Murray certainly had a more arduous task...it certainly appeared that Murray tired quicker today to me anyway!

The semi final I'll give you, a three setter and an extra days rest helped ND.

[MB62]

Was discussing in the pub at the weekend about the rules on players challenging line calls, my mate asked
'can a player challenge a call on his own shot being called in when it was OUT'?

e.g. Andy Murray hits his first serve which looks out but is not called out by the line judge. His opponent hits a winning return off the serve. Can Murray challenge whether his serve was actually in, hoping if the ball was really out he then he has 2nd serve?

[Sir David Gray]

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Was discussing in the pub at the weekend about the rules on players challenging line calls, my mate asked
'can a player challenge a call on his own shot being called in when it was OUT'?

e.g. Andy Murray hits his first serve which looks out but is not called out by the line judge. His opponent hits a winning return off the serve. Can Murray challenge whether his serve was actually in, hoping if the ball was really out he then he has 2nd serve?

Yes a player can do that but only if they make absolutely no attempt to play a shot from the opponent's return. If they hit the ball then they lose their right to challenge the serve.

It is extremely rare, as you can imagine, but it has been done.

[MB62]

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Yes a player can do that but only if they make absolutely no attempt to play a shot from the opponent's return. If they hit the ball then they lose their right to challenge the serve.

It is extremely rare, as you can imagine, but it has been done.

Thanks for that FH.
I thought that would be the case but nobody knew for sure so it was a good pub arguement