Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Andy Murray is back in the Australian Open final.
This time, he'll hope for a better result.
Murray advanced to his fourth final in the year's first major with Thursday's 6-7 (6-8), 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 semifinal victory over seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych.
After losing a tight opening set, which lasted 76 minutes, Murray gave himself a stern talking to at the sit down and proceeded to largely dominate. He converted six of his 10 break points and benefited from 56 unforced errors from Berdych.
Berdych snapped a 17-match losing run against Rafael Nadal in a straight- sets quarterfinal win over the Spaniard. His first-set victory over Murray marked his 16th successive set won in the tournament. It is the second year in a row that the Czech has fallen at the semifinal stage in Melbourne, having lost to Stan Wawrinka last year.
The 29-year-old Berdych, working with Murray's former coach Dani Vallverdu, was trying to reach his second Grand Slam final after finishing runner-up to Nadal at Wimbledon in 2010.
Murray is now 5-6 lifetime against Berdych, who fell in 3 hours, 16 minutes at Rod Laver Arena. The Brit also topped the Czech in the 2012 U.S. Open semis.
Murray is coached by former women's world No. 1 star Amelie Mauresmo.
"A lot of people criticized me working with her and I think so far this week we've shown that women can be very good coaches as well," Murray said. "Madison Keys, who reached the semis here and had her best tournament, is also coached by a woman in Lindsay Davenport. And I see no reason why that can't keep moving forward in the future. So I'm very thankful for Amelie for doing it. It was a brave choice for her to do it and hopefully I can repay her in a couple of days."
The sixth-seeded Scot, though, has yet to win in Melbourne, falling in the 2010 title match to Roger Federer before losing to Novak Djokovic in both 2011 and 2013. On Sunday, he could again face the world No. 1 Djokovic, who will meet the fourth-seeded defending champion Wawrinka on Friday in the other men's semifinal.
Murray is bidding to become the first man in the Open Era to win the Australian Open title after losing three finals.
The 2012 Olympic gold medalist will play in his eighth career Grand Slam title match. He is 2-5 in such finals, winning the 2012 U.S. Open and Wimbledon in 2013.
The 27-year-old Murray is 31-14 overall in his career finals.
Berdych, meanwhile, was beaten in the Australian Open semis for the second year in a row. He lost to Wawrinka last year and has just one Grand Slam final on his resume -- a loss to Nadal at Wimbledon in 2010.
On Friday, fans will be hoping for another epic when the four-time Aussie Open champ champion Djokovic faces Wawrinka for the third year in a row at Melbourne Park. Two years ago, Djokovic denied Wawrinka 12-10 in the fifth set of a fourth-round clash, but last year the Swiss got his revenge with a 9-7 fifth-set victory in the quarterfinals.
Djokovic is 16-3 lifetime against Wawrinka, including a 3-1 record at the majors.
The 27-year-old Djokovic is bidding to become the second man in history to win the Australian Open for the fifth time, joining Aussie great Roy Emerson. The Belgrade native won his first major title in Melbourne in 2008 and followed with three successive victories in 2011-13. He has a 48-6 match record at Melbourne Park.
Djokovic still has yet to drop a set in his ruthless run at this 2015 fortnight. He is through to his 25th Grand Slam semifinal, one behind Andre Agassi for the fourth most in the Open Era.
Wawrinka captured his first Grand Slam title here a year ago by stunning Nadal in the final.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.