Morning all. So Andy Murray v Marin Cilic, the semi-finals of the 2010 Australian Open. How to start game-by-game coverage of this crucial juncture of Murray's career? How do we adequatly reflect the subtle import of this epic tussle? Well, isn't it obvious:
"Many consider John McEnroe to have the biggest mouth in tennis, but your photo proves that Andy Murray has an irrefutable claim," writes Gary Naylor. "He is, like those things David Icke is going on about, part lizard, surely?"
Yeah, that'll do it.
These two have met four times before, with Murray winning on three occasions (2009 French Open, 2008 Madrid Open, 2007 Davis Cup) but Cilic's victory was a crushing one in last year's US Open.
The players have emerged into the Rod Laver Arena, Murray in blue and Cilic in Daz white.
Pre-match snack news dept. As it's tennis I've gone for a ubiquitous banana, though I've skipped the strange cloudy water stuff the players quaff. Right, here we go ...
First set: Murray* 1-0 Cilic Cilic should take the first point of the match but punts his smash straight at Murray, who backhands cross-court for the winner. Murray then gets the better of an astonishing rally at 30-15 and hammers down an unreturnable serve that Cilic does well to get a racket on to bag the first game.
First set: Murray 1-1 Cilic* Cilic goes long with a backhand to give Murray an early advantage and then dumps another into the net to put Murray 30-15 up. Cilic then risks a foray to the net, but he never looks comfortable and Murray makes the pass to give himself two break points. Cilic saves the first and then just gets the better of another lengthy rally, full of net cords and drop volleys. He takes the next two points too - an important early hold for the Croatian. "Clicking furiously between websites (no offence) earlier, I thought I saw a photo of Murray smiling," writes Mike Cassidy. "That must be a thrilling experience for a photographer, like capturing ospreys mating."
First set: Murray* 2-1 Cilic Is it too early for this sort of email? "I saw Murray play in Melbourne a few years back when his hair made him look like a less ginger version of that bloke from Cast," writes Craig Borlase. "He was very polite to the ball girls and I immediately warmed to him. However I had a vasectomy on Tuesday and these next couple of hours are crucial to my recovery. Can I still trust him?" Right, a) that's John Power, and b) well, I'm not really sure what to do with that. A fairly comfortable hold to 30, which, I suppose, is good news for Craig.
First set: Murray 2-2 Cilic* Murray cuts a frustrated figure after wanging a backhand out of play off a Cilic second serve, but two errors from the Croat again gives Murray a look at 15-30. After a challenge he's also facing a second serve, but some superb hitting from Cilic drags him out of trouble. "Not that I want to encourage the Murray gob debate any further but, does your photo remind anyone else of the the Alien films?" wonders Carl Gamble. I think he's being very harsh on Sigourney Weaver.
First set: Murray* 2-3 Cilic "I can't understand why dear Andy wears RBS-sponsored T-shirts (among others) and not good old Murray Mints," writes Lara Pawson. "Aren't they missing a brilliant advertising hit here? I always suck them when Andy's playing." Any other food/sport superstitions out there? Murray needs all the help he can get after whacking a couple of forehands into the net to go 0-30 and then throwing in a loose volley to allow Cilic to pass him for 0-40. Cilic puts the first into the net off a second serve, Murray saves the second with an anvil of a backhand and a confident volley, then Cilic goes long when in a good position on the third. But four deuces, a drop-deap-gorgeous Murray lob, an ace and two break points later Cilic has his break.
First set: Murray 2-4 Cilic* "TAKE A SEAT," booms the umpire with the grave voice of Terry Pratchett's Death as some stragglers make their way through the turnstiles. "ANY SEAT." Cilic races into a 30-0 lead before being pegged back to 30-30. Another epic rally - both these players are producing some superb defensive tennis when required - gives Murray a break point, but he clonks his forehand long. He gets another after Cilic plops (I'm running out of verbs already, this can't be good) one into the net, but again Cilic gets the better of him. Another long forehand hands Murray a third, but the net cord this time come to the Croat's rescue. Two cracking forehands from deuce gives Cilic another hold.
First set: Murray* 3-4 Cilic Murray finds his mojo on serve to take a 40-0 lead and closes out with an ace. Comfortably the best service game of the match so far, from either player.
First set: Murray 3-5 Cilic* "Re. Lara Pawson's Murray Mints. I always chew toffee when I'm watching Everton," writes Dean Patterson, rather unconvincingly. A few Cilic fans in the crowd hold up a banner reading "RED HOT CILIC PEPPERS" which only just works, and doesn't make a great deal of sense. Still it's better than the four irritatingly coiffured Murray fans with A.N.D.Y on their T-shirts. A powerful service game from Cilic barely gives Murray a sniff.
First set: Murray* 3-6 Cilic Cilic is forcing the pace here, and force is the operative word. In cricket parlance, he delivers a heavy ball. He's got a racket like a traction engine. The Croat has three set points after bossing his way to 0-40 and he only needs one.
Cilic wins the first set 6-3. That's four sets on the bounce for Cilic against Murray.
Second set: Cilic* leads Murray 6-3, 1-0 Murray has switched shirts, ditching his blue number to like-for-like with his white-shirted opponent, but it'll take more than that to get him back into this match. Another hold to love - Cilic has won the last 12 points. "I think if I was sat next to the A.N.D.Y. fans I may be inclined to sport my own shirt," writes Oliver Gamble. "Perhaps an M or an H … or an R if I was feeling frisky."
Second set: Cilic leads Murray* 6-3, 1-1 Murray hammers the ball into the net in frustration after a shot goes wide - 13 points in a row for Cilic - and then puts a slice into the same spot (that'll be 14). Finally Murray breaks the run by moving Cilic around and then volleying home for 15-30, and brings things back to 30-30 with a series of cross-court backhands flourished by one down the line. He follows it up with another crunching backhand down the line, but piles the next into the net to bring up deuce. Cilic goes wide after clipping the net and Murray has a huge hold.
Second set: Cilic* leads Murray 6-3, 2-1 Cilic has eight hours more tennis in his legs at the tournament than Murray, but he seems determined to try and level things up, working the British No1 from side-to-side-to-side and back again. In contrast to Murray's battle to hold, Cilic does so with some ease. "Do you ever get the feeling that in some throw back to teenage life Murray often tries to do as little as possible to win a match and these are the ones where he lets the initiative slip," ponders Al Pullin. "It's as if he thinks that Cilic will make a mistake in the end - but right now I don't think that's the tactic, he's got to impose more..."
Second set: Cilic leads Murray* 6-3, 2-2 Does anyone remember the 80s (possibly) computer game, a sort of medieval platformer, where little pixies drop bags of gold or joints of meat to replenish energy? No? Oh, well the fact that the pink-clad ballgirls and ballboys (ballchildren?) remind me of them won't make a great deal of sense then. Er, anyway ... a couple of quick points puts Murray 40-15 up and a botched Cilic forehand gives him a fairly comfortable hold. He really needed that - the last few games he's been hanging on to the match by the coat tails.
Second set: Cilic* leads Murray 6-3, 2-3 "C'mon now," urges Murray as he takes the first point on the Cilic serve. "Is that going to work?" he chides himself rhetorically as he gives his opponent the opportunity to pass. Another lengthy rally brings it back to 30-30 and a belting return has Cilic scuffing the ball into the net from off his toes. Break point ... WHAT AN ASTONISHING RALLY! After a series of startling volleys, net cords and drop shots, Murray chases after a lob, pirouettes and curls a whirlwind forehand past his opponent at the net. Breathtaking stuff, and Murray has his break.
Second set: Cilic leads Murray* 6-3, 2-4 My inbox has filled up with emails entitled "Little pixies" which in normal circumstances would be slightly unsettling. "I'm guessing from your description you are thinking of Golden Axe," writes Adam Breedon among others. "Although the pixies didn't drop gold, but instead little pots of 'magic'. Also you had to kick them up the bottom to make them drop their loot." That's saved me a day of frustration. Thank you all. Murray continues where he left off to go 40-0 up and Cilic misses a straightforward shot at the net to hand him the game. Has the tide turned?
Second set: Cilic* leads Murray 6-3, 3-4 Lara Pawson must be cranking up her mint consumption - Murray is a changed player, anticipating better, more aggressive and causing Cilic serious problems. It's 0-30 on the Cilic serve before you can blink, though the Croatian recovers to 30-all with a trademark backhand down the line. A wild backhand from Cilic gives Murray a break point, but despite maintaining his aggression Cilic stands firm to save. Murray grabs another chance from deuce but Cilic booms down a serve to save once more. Another jackhammer serve saves a third break point, another does likewise with a fourth and finally Cilic holds.
Second set: Cilic leads Murray* 6-3, 3-5 Murray throws down his fourth ace of the match as he holds to love. That was as comfortable as a well-worn leather sofa on a Sunday morning.
Second set: Cilic* leads Murray 6-3, 4-5 Cilic's first serve percentage is dropping down toward 50% and Murray takes advantage of a second serve to larrup (now scraping the paint off the bottom of the verb-barrel) a backhand past his opponent. Cilic gets his mechanics sorted, though, and some first-serve howitzers get him back on top, reeling of the next four points.
Second set: Cilic v Murray* 6-3, 4-6 Eurosport bring back memories of TicTacgate by allowing their Qantas airways to overrun into the first point. There's no drama missed though and Murray brings up three set points with fantastically executed drop shot from off his toes by the net. He dabs a backhand into the net on the first - "Sometimes when you stroke a baby's bottom you pinch it," says the commentator gnomically - but he bags the set from the next. We're all square.
Murray wins the second set 6-4. One set all.
Third set: Cilic* 1-0 Murray (One set all: 6-3, 4-6) Murray has some stern words for the umpire as he awards Cilic the opening point after a challenge. All in all, it's a slightly subdued start to set three, with Cilic holding to 15.
Third set: Cilic 1-1 Murray* (One set all: 6-3, 4-6) Some excellent, confident serving helps Murray into a 40-0 lead and a wild forehand from Cilic allows the No5 seed to hold to love. "Not one Cillit Bang joke?" writes Adam Issa, shaking his head in disappointment. "Not one."
Third set: Cilic* 1-2 Murray (One set all: 6-3, 4-6) Cilic double faults and after a slight delay while one of the pixies chases after the ball (both players commendably refusing to give in to the tempation of booting them to see if any 'magic' falls out) the Croat makes another error to give Murray a 0-30 lead. Two points and another error later and Murray has two break points at 15-40. Cilic cracks in another huge serve but Murray's return is impeccable, aimed right at the toes. Into the net it goes and Murray has an early break.
Third set: Cilic 2-2 Murray* (One set all: 6-3, 4-6) Cilic gets his first chance for an age, a couple of unconvincing errors from Murray handing his opponent a 15-40 lead. Murray crowds the net and Cilic passes long off his first opportunity and a cannon of a serve brings it back to deuce. A powderpuff second serve gives Cilic the upper hand once more, though, and this time he makes no mistake. He's broken straight back.
Third set: Cilic* 3-2 Murray (One set all: 6-3, 4-6) It's 30-30 on the Cilic serve and as Murray shanks one into the net he yelps "BAD!" which is quite helpful for a MBMer with a fairly limited knowledge of the game. Another errant forehand slides wide and Cilic holds. "Am I alone in feeling that it's a great pity that if Andy Murray were to win this whole shebang it would be wearing the garish kit of adidas rather than the more moddish and historically appropriate Fred Perry brand he had up until this year?" writes Michael Hunt. "Perfectly happy for the man to sell out to big business, and I am waiting for my own opportunity to do so myself, but would have been nice to have won the first major wearing the name of his predecessor." Either way, I think that might be getting ahead of ourselves.
Third set: Cilic 3-3 Murray* (One set all: 6-3, 4-6) Murray comes out on top of another 15(ish)-shot rally - that, as Alan Partridge might say, is a point - before racing Usain Bolt-like to a 40-0 lead. From nowhere Cilic then produces one of the shots of the match with a forehand down the line from yards out of court, but it's all in vain as Murray holds with relative ease.
Third set: Cilic* 3-4 Murray (One set all: 6-3, 4-6) A stonking cross-court forehand from Murray zips past Cilic at the net to bring up 0-30. Murray has a chance to make it 0-40 but misses with Cilic again at the net. He should've gone for the lob (I know this because he handily pointed to the sky afterwards - it's almost like he's reading this) but two points later he's wrestled the advantage back, and for the second time in the set he's a break up.
Third set: Cilic 3-5 Murray* (One set all: 6-3, 4-6) More superb tennis from Murray, somehow stretching and twisting to divert a volley over the net as Cilic spanked a forehand cross-court. Murray holds to 15. "If I can borrow a riff from the recent (cricket) OBO," writes Jonathan McCauley-Oliver, "how about a quick straw poll on who amongst us is about to have a first date with Hope and who is already not looking forward to waking up next to a sleeping Despair."
Third set: Cilic* 4-5 Murray (One set all: 6-3, 4-6) "Cilic-on-carne?" suggests Lara Pawson, picking up the thread of a long-defunct first-set riff-that-never-really-got-off-the-ground and running with it anyway. Cilic throws in a double fault then a gossamer-delicate drop shot gives Murray a 15-30 lead. He bosses the next point too and brings up two set points. The first, off a second serve kicking like a mule in the midst of an alcoholic rage, is planted into the net, the second ends with Murray mis-hitting a lob. Two hard-earned points later, Cilic holds. Murray will have to serve out the set.
Third set: Cilic 4-6 Murray* (One set all: 6-3, 4-6) Murray quickly establishes a 30-0 lead, but an attempted backward smash from a Cilic lob goes wide. Two set points arrive on a plate with a small salad garnish courtesy of a botched Cilic forehand and Murray tucks in to take the set.
Murray wins third set 6-3 and leads two sets to one
Fourth set: Murray leads Cilic* 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 0-1 "Re: Michael Hunt's comments on Murray's former Fred Perry garb – is it a shame? Hell no!" growls Graham Willgoss, who may or may not work for Adidas. "Murray looked like the kid at school who'd forgotten his PE kit and had to wear the ill-fitting, naff threads pulled out of the grotty box in the corner of the PE office (we've all done it). Yeah, that's right. Naff. He looks the part, and now he's playing the part." The Skank Box it was called in our school, home to all manner of foulness. Yeech. Murray unwraps a new racket, kicks up his heels and strides out with the confidence of a man one set from his second slam final. Cilic isn't done yet, though, and rattles through his service game, taking it to 15.
Fourth set: Murray* leads Cilic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 1-1 Another oh-so-delicate drop shot from Murray brings up 40-0 and the expression on Cilic's face after yet another unsuccessful scamper to the net is one of onrushing exhaustion. Murray hands his opponent some encouragement with a double fault and an uncharacteristic error that allows Cilic to claw it back to 40-30, but a dismissive pummel down the line gives Murray the hold.
Fourth set: Murray leads Cilic* 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 2-1 Cilic, visibly tiring now, is looking for that old first-set aggression and he's found some of it, surging into a 40-15 lead. Murray isn't letting him have anything easily, though, and by sheer force of will brings it back to deuce and a very, very tired backhand deflates (that verb barrel has run out and I'm now having to use ones that don't even make sense) into the net. Murray needs no second invitation and has a vital early break.
Fourth set: Murray* leads Cilic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 3-1 "At my school the box contained an extra-large pair of 80's footy shorts, giving you the choice between that or your pants," writes David Quainton. "Pants: our PE teacher Mr Walker was very keen on pants. If anyone attempted to wear boxers and he noticed there was a spare pair of grubby y-fronts as an enforced replacement. One kid at our school actually used duck-tape from the art room to turn his boxers into pants instead. He crackled when he ran. True story." Murray holds with the ease of Lionel Richie's Sunday morning.
Fourth set: Murray leads Cilic* 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 4-1 It's the Alamo and Rorke's Drift rolled into one for Cilic now, with Murray playing the contrasting and slightly confusing dual roles of both a bunch of Texans and Michael Caine. Another gruelling rally saps further strength from his legs and a double fault to bring up 40-30 doesn't help. There's further torment for the Croat as Murray brings up deuce via a net cord, with Cilic all ready to volley into open court. It's a Thor-level hammer blow from which he can't recover and MURRAY HAS A DOUBLE BREAK!
Fourth set: Murray* leads Cilic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 5-1 "Re: David Quainton's pants," writes Graham Willgoss. "Surely an 80s pair of footy shorts, even XL, are no bigger than a pair of tighty-whiteys?" New balls for Murray and Cilic looks a beaten man - the feet just aren't picking up, there's a distinct lack of zip on his forehand. There's no lack of heart, but his guts are writing cheques that the rest of his body can't cash. Murray holds to 15 - he's one game away from the final.
Fourth set: Murray leads Cilic* 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 5-2 Cilic chucks in his sixth double fault (Murray's had one, by comparison) then puts (verb barrel empty, remember) a backhand into the net to give Murray a 15-30 lead. The British No1 goes for too much on the point, then Cilic produces an ace and a another fine serve to clinch the game. And finally, we have our Cilit Bang Pun. Step forward, er, humpintokyo: "Can't help but be reminded of that shouty Cilit Bang advert whenever I hear Cilic's name. Unfortunately for him he's not going to be cleaning up here after that." Bom tish!
ANDY MURRAY WINS 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2! The Rod Laver Arena is on its feet - Every. Single. Person - as Murray somehow chases down a forehand and scoops it low outside the net to bring up 30-15. Two emphatic points later it's all over. Murray is in the final!
Right that's me. Thanks for all your emails, folks. Be sure to stick around on site for the full report, and, I'll wager, some top blog action. Cheerio.
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