Andy Murray Advances To Australian Open Semifinals

Andy Murray spent a lot of time giving his box the business Wednesday in Melbourne. This for a guy who advanced to the Australian Open semifinals in four sets.

The Scot, a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3 winner against No. 8 David Ferrer, was continually off-put by his inability to end rallies on his own terms.

Murray's antics were so perpetual that it appeared he had become frustrated with his failure to come up with new forms of berating his camp.

At one point early in the encounter, Murray, a four-time runner-up in Melbourne, struck a magnificent running forehand around the post, only for Ferrer to respond with a lunging backhand volley into the open court. Murray, going into full irony mode, pumped his fist in celebration.

Nonetheless, the Scott prevailed in a draining 3-hour, 20-minute battle to make his sixth semifinal in Australia.

 On her way to a widely anticipated final against Serena Williams, two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka ran into an unexpected, and ultimately fatal, diversion Wednesday in Melbourne.

In their seventh meeting, Angelique Kerber of Germany beat Azarenka for the first time, 6-3, 7-5.

"I'm going to be disappointed today," Azarenka said. "I'm going to be pissed off. I'm going to let myself have that. But overall it's not going to affect me in any way because I know the work that I put through, it's paying off. I just need to do more. I need to keep going to be even more consistent. I've shown good signs. I've shown good quality, way more consistent, physically much better. I need to assess a little bit what I can improve and keep moving forward."

It has been 18 years since a German reached the semifinals at the Australian Open -- the last was Anke Huber in 1998 -- and this is the first time Kerber has been through to the quarterfinals and semifinals in Melbourne. It's the third major semifinal of her career, and this might have been the biggest victory of her career.