Murray back in Australian Open final

MELBOURNE, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Andy Murray earned his second consecutive trip to the finals of the Australian Open with a four-set victory Friday over David Ferrer.

Murray, ranked fifth in the world, took out the seventh-seeded Ferrer 4-6, 7-6 (7-2) 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) in 3 hours, 45 minutes to make his third career Grand Slam final. He lost his other two major tournament title match appearances -- 2010 in Australia and at the 2008 U.S. Open -- to Roger Federer.

His his opponent Sunday will be world No. 3 Novak Djokovic, who ousted Federer in straight sets in his semifinal Thursday. Djokovic is looking for his second major championship, having won the Australian Open in 2008.

Ferrer advanced to the semis with a victory over No. 1-ranked Rafael Nadal and started Friday's match strong, winning the last three games -- two on breaks -- of the first set.

Murray and Ferrer traded breaks in the first two and last two games of the second set but Murray ran off the first six points of the tiebreaker and took command of the match by winning the last five games of the third set.

He opened the fourth with a break but Ferrer evened the set three games later. However, once they got to another tiebreaker Murray won four straight points for a 6-1 lead. Two points later he was in the finals.

Murray had to overcome 63 unforced errors and fought off 13 of Ferrer's break-point chances.

Djokovic has won four of the previous seven matches against Murray but the Scot has taken the last three. They haven't played since the finals of a Masters tournament in Miami in 2009.