Novak Djokovic beats Andy Murray to reach Australian Open final

Novak Djokovic celebrates after his win over Andy Murray

Novak Djokovic outlasts Andy Murray to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 6-1, 7-5, in Austalian Open semi-final as the Serb will now face Rafael Nadal in Sunday's final.

In Murry's longest ever match at 10 minutes short of five hours, he lost once more to the player who can fairly lay claim to being the best in the world.

Murray looked gone at 2-5 down but dragged himself back when he broke Djokovic to love for 4-5. The comeback of the year looked possible if he had taken any of the three break points in the 11th game, but Djokovic showed immense courage to kill the Briton's dream with a cross-court forehand.

Murray lost the first set 3-6 but then surged back to level the score in the second, playing his best tennis of the match.

When he then held his nerve to take the third set on a tie-break, it seemed as if he must be heading for his third successive Australian Open final. But his legs seemed to turn to lead in the fourth set.

Djokovic needed only 25 minutes to level the match again and take it into a decider. Considering that the third set occupied had 88 minutes, including one 18-minute game.