Andy Murray will aim to make it lucky number five when he takes to the court on Sunday after successfully booking his place in the Australian Open final with a five-set victory over Milos Raonic.
The British number one reserved himself another showdown with familiar foe Novak Djokovic after seeing off 13th-seed Raonic 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-2 in a four-hour contest in Melbourne.
Murray has lost to the world No.1 in his last three Australian Open final appearances with his straight sets defeat to Roger Federer in 2010 the only time he has not faced the Serb in the showpiece.
And the Brit will have to make sure to get off to a better start than he did against Raonic on Friday as the Canadian immediately broke Murray in his very first service game.
It was an advantage that Raonic would not relinquish in the first set as his fierce serve kept Murray at bay.
The second set was another close affair but Murray got the vital break to level the match before the third went all the way to a tie-break and the momentum again swung back to Raonic as he nudged into the lead once more.
The Canadian was bidding to make his maiden Grand Slam final but a troubling groin injury, which saw him leave the court for treatment, started to increasingly hinder his ability to go toe-to-toe with his opponent.
And after Murray took the fourth set and went a double break up in the fifth, the game was up despite Raonic valiantly battling until the end.
“I started to get a slightly better read on his serve as the match went on. I got to make a few more returns and that was key,” said Murray.
“It was tough in that third set because I played well but in the tie-break he didn’t miss one first serve and he obviously has one of the best serves in tennis. It’s frustrating when you don’t have much say in the points.
“A lot of things are obviously important when you are playing against the best players in the world. You can’t afford to do anything poorly.
“I’m going to have to execute my gameplan very well in the final, not have any lapses in concentration, and just play as best a match as I can.
“Novak has played extremely well in his last couple of matches in particular. He loves playing on this court.
“We’ve played a bunch of times here and hopefully this time it can be a different result.”
Murray’s progression also brought up another milestone as it means he and older sibling Jamie become the first brothers in the Open era to reach the finals in both the men’s singles and men’s doubles events at a Grand Slam – Jamie having progressed in the men’s doubles yesterday alongside Bruno Soares.
The older Murray brother will take centre stage tomorrow as he aims to follow runner-up finishes at both Wimbledon and the US Open last year with a first men’s doubles Grand Slam title.
And with Andy then taking to the court on Sunday, it promises to be a proud moment for the Murray family.
“Both my parents will be extremely proud I’m sure. There’s not many tennis players come out of Scotland,” Andy added.
“I never expected to be doing this. Neither of our parents would have been expecting us to be here so for us to both be in a Slam final at the same time is pretty incredible and hopefully he can get the win tomorrow. "This is the third final in a row for him so I hope he can win.”
Sportsbeat 2016