Andy Murray through to Australian Open final

Andy Murray has reached his third Australian Open final after recording a 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-7 (2-7) 6-2 victory over Roger Federer in Melbourne today.

The third seed did drop his first sets of the tournament but dominated the decider to beat his Swiss rival in a major tournament for the first time.

Murray, who has now drawn level with Fred Perry as Britain’s most successful Grand Slam player in terms of matches won, will next play Novak Djokovic in a rematch of the 2011 final.

The British No 1, chasing his third straight appearance in a Grand Slam final, started well and made his move in the third game, although he passed up three opportunities before finally breaking the Federer serve.

Murray squandered three more break points during the remainder of the set but had no trouble serving things out, rounding things off with a solid hold to 15.

Federer began to grow into the contest at the start of the second set as Murray’s serve was put under pressure on a consistent basis.

The challenge faded as the set wore on and it was Murray who had the momentum heading into the tie-break, but a string of forehand errors handed the impetus – and ultimately the set – to Federer.

The US Open champion did not dwell on the blip, however, and broke his opponent in the sixth game of the third set before holding firm on his own serve to move a set up again.

A loose service game allowed Federer to break and move 3-1 ahead in the fourth set, but Murray hit back in the seventh game to get things back on serve.

The path to the tie-break was not a smooth one as Federer threw away his serve at a critical juncture, only to brilliantly break Murray back in the next game as the 25-year-old served for the match.

Federer dominated the tie-break but was broken at the first opportunity in the deciding set and Murray, who served a total of 21 aces, did not give him a look-in for the remainder of the contest.