Top-ranked Novak Djokovic will play Andy Murray for the 2013 Australian Open Championship at 7:30 am EST on Sunday.
Djokovic and Murray have played each other 17 times, with the Serbian winning ten matches. Djokovic has eliminated Murray from the Australian Open in each of the past two seasons. In 2012, Djokovic won the semifinal match in five sets. This year's final is a re-match of 2011, when Djokovic won in three sets over Murray.
In 2012 alone, Murray and Djokovic battled seven times. Murray's wins came in the semifinal round in both Dubai and the Olympics, plus a finals win in the U.S. Open. The most recent competition between the players was in the round robin portion of the ATP World Tour Finals, with Djokovic winning in three sets.
There have been four tiebreakers in the 2012 matches between Murray and Djokovic, with two of them lasting into the double digits for both players.
Djokovic defeated David Ferrer of Spain in three sets in the semifinals. Murray first faced Federer in a Grand Slam four years ago, and finally beat him for the first time, advancing to his sixth ever Grand Slam Final, and his second at this tournament.
In the previous five Australian Opens, Djokovic had three wins and two quarterfinal appearances. His 2008 victory was his first ever in a Grand Slam event. He is still a French Open win shy of a career Grand Slam, and nearly had one in 2011 alone, winning three but falling in the French Open semis.
The Serbian has topped Paul-Henri Mathieu, Ryan Harrison, Radek Stepanek, Stanislas Wawrinka, Tim Berdych and Ferrer in his previous matches in the 2013 Australian Open.
Murray has five Grand Slam finals appearances and one title: the 2012 U.S. Open, which he won over Djokovic. His previous losses include consecutive Australian Open finals defeats in 2010 and 2011. He fell to Federer in the first of them and Djokovic in the second. Murray exacted revenge against Federer for a 2012 defeat in the Wimbledon Finals by beating him for the gold medal in the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
In his previous Melbourne matches in 2013, Murray has beaten Robin Haase, Joao Sousa, Ricardas Berankis, Gilles Simon, Jeremy Chardy and Federer. It took the Brit four hours to defeat Federer.
You can watch video highlights of past 2013 Austrailan Open matches here.
The Live Stream of the 2013 Australian Open is right here (Service Provider Required).
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
