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Follow Me on TwitterRob Soria is the Edmonton Oilers' correspondent for OurHometown.ca. Rob was born and raised in Edmonton and is the author of the Edmonton Oilers blog - OilDrop.ca. He has been a dedicated follower of the game and its history for years but his focus remains on his hometown Edmonton Oilers. If you have questions or wish to contact Rob, you can email him at rsoria@ourhometown.ca
Australian Open: Djokovic and Murray set to meet one more time
Rob Soria
OurHometown.ca

Australian Open: Djokovic and Murray set to meet one more time
With Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal already making it through to the Australian Open semi-finals, it was now up to Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray to ensure the top four players in the world would make it into the final four down under. Both men did just that and are now set to face-off one more time, in a rematch of the last year's final.
PHOTO CREDIT - Zimbio.com

Edmonton - January 25, 2012 - With Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal already making it through to the Australian Open semi-finals, it was now up to Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray to ensure the top four players in the world would make it into the final four down under. Both men did just that and are now set to face-off one more time, in a rematch of the last year's final.

Murray was expected to have the much easier time of things against Japan's Kei Nishikori and those assumptions were dead on. While the fourth seed dismissed Nishikori in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, he was far from impressive in doing so. Murray really struggled with his service game as he connected on only 44% of his first serves and he also seemed content on just knocking balls back to his opponent, as opposed to trying to take points and the match over. If he has any hopes of beating Djokovic, that mindset must be nowhere to be found and he has to serve somewhere in the mid-sixties.

Djokovic had a much tougher time with fifth seed David Ferrer, in what was one of the most entertaining matches of the tournament. While the score line looks not much different then a typical Djokovic straight sets victory at 6-4, 7-6, 6-1, the match was nothing of the sort. The opening set took just under one hour to play and featured countless rallies that were extended will beyond twenty strokes. In the end, it was decided on one service break but Ferrer made the top seed work for every point and it would only become more grueling in set number two.

While the Serb managed to take the second set in a tie breaker, it took seventy-six minutes to complete and was simply a treat for fans to watch. The Spaniard worked like a man possessed in the opening two sets and after dropping the second set in a highly competitive and tight tie breaker, he was simply mentally spent. He literally ran miles tracking down Djokovic ground strokes all over the court but came away empty handed. After coasting along without much competition, the number one player in the world has been pushed in his last two matches, which will serve him well moving forward.

Day Eleven will feature the match everyone has been waiting for, as Federer will take on Nadal in the semi-final number one. Both men head into this one in top form and look set to deliver another classic match between these two great rivals. As always, it is a very early start time of 3:30a.m.eastern/1:30a.m. mountain for us in North America but I would highly recommend anyone interested in sport spectacles, to check this one out. For tennis fans it is a no-brainer but those of you that marginally follow the game or just love great sport, the Australian Open is the place all eyes should be focused on.


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