TENNIS:THERE WAS a slew of broken serves, as in any worthwhile struggle, and one broken heart on Rod Laver Arena as the clock slipped way past midnight. As a year ago it again belonged to Andy Murray. This time, though, it will be easier to put back together.

In his longest ever match at 10 minutes short of five hours, and one of the truly stirring tennis fights – of this this week or this era – Murray lost once more to the player who can fairly lay claim to being the best in the world, Novak Djokovic, who beat him so completely in the 2011 final.

It would be unfair – and demeaning to the winner – to suggest Murray threw the match away after coming back from 2-5 in the fifth set and failing to convert any of three break points that would have left him serving for the match. This was tightrope tennis. Either man could have fallen off. Neither choked and the Serb deserved to hang on under the most intense pressure.

So the sceptics can park that prejudice out of the way. Murray left with his head held high. When Djokovic hit the winning forehand neither had anything left to give. He won 6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 6-1, 7-5 in a semi-final that surpassed even the drama and excellence of the one on Thursday night, when Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer. Djokovic, for the third straight major, plays Nadal in tomorrow’s final.

Murray was shattered. But he has much to take away from a defeat that was almost a victory. And, while it was difficult to detect emotion on the weathered face of his new coach, Ivan Lendl, the Czech was surely proud. Murray revealed later: “[Lendl] told me a couple of nights ago, ‘You’ll win but you’re going to have to go through a lot of pain to get there, so prepare yourself mentally for that. There will be a lot of tough points to play when your legs are sore and your legs are burning’.”

He got the result wrong but the narrative right. Last January Djokovic won ruthlessly in three one-sided sets and so injured the Scot’s spirit it was months before he recovered. This was so much longer and bloodier – and that is why Murray should leave Melbourne with hope rather than disappointment alone.

After time to reflect he said: “Everyone sees this match or the tournament but there’s so much more that goes into it: I’ve been away for two months. I prepared as well as I could, I played probably as well as I could and did all the right things – so I can’t be disappointed.”

Murray is growing as a player and a human being thrown into the bearpit his talent ensured would be his lot in life. If anything, he is better set to win a Grand Slam title because of this defeat than by reaching his three major finals. He played way above the levels of those encounters, for a start. He is a worthy contemporary of three of the finest players in tennis. His mission is still to beat one of them in the final of a major and there is no shirking the effort that will take.

This was a match that dipped and soared. Murray struggled early and a blowout seemed possible; he recovered well in the second set, out-toughed Djokovic in a competitive third, was blasted out in the fourth, which took a mere 25 minutes, and then they set themselves on drained legs for the fight in the fifth.

“Andy deserved the credit to come back after 2-5 down,” Djokovic said. “He was really fighting. Not much words to describe the feeling I have now. It was a physical match. It was one of the best matches I played. Emotional and mentally it was difficult too. We were breaking each other’s serve easier than holding.”

The highlights reel would be far longer than that of the lowlights. Djokovic hit 184 winners to 161 and Murray’s error count was higher at 86 to 69 – but those are just numbers. Murray changed his shirt but not his gameplan in the deciding fifth. He tried to stretch Djokovic but his legs were sapped. It was the Serb, previously spent, who now pulled the strings.

There were two crucial games early in the set. The first was during Djokovic’s serve at 1-1, a breathtaking 25-shot rally in which Murray ran Djokovic ragged to get to 30-30. The Serb held but he got the unmistakable message the fight was back on.

The second was the next game, in which Murray’s clutch ace saved the first of three break points and he drew level at 2-2. Djokovic held to love and, as they entered a new day, Murray emitted a scream when he went 30-40 down. Djokovic, though, blew a cross-court forehand for deuce – but not the forehand for a winner and break.

Murray hung on like a starving dog, winning a 26-shot rally (the average for the match was 6.2), then had Djokovic 0-30 on his serve with the prize in sight. A huge forehand clipped the baseline. The crowd were entranced, especially when Murray came to the net to hit the winner.

They would have screamed the place down had he taken any of the three break points in the 10th game but Djokovic showed immense courage with high-risk shots to hold. Murray served to stay in the match but could not quite manage it.

Murray years ago settled on a quote from the American journalist Herbert Bayard Swope, as his guiding philosophy: “I cannot give you the formula for success but I can give you the formula for failure – which is: try to please everybody.”

In one of his bravest defeats he left nobody displeased.

Yesterday’s results

Men’s singles semi-final:

(1) Novak Djokovic (Serb) bt (4) Andy Murray (Brit) 6-3, 3-6, 6-7, 6-1, 7-5

Women’s doubles final:

Svetlana Kuznetsova/Vera Zvonareva (Rus) bt Roberta Vinci/ Sara Errani (Ita) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3

Men's singles : the final

How they match up

Nadal and Djokovic have played each other 29 times in their careers as befits the top two players in the world. The Spaniard comes out slightly ahead of the head-to-heads with a 16-13 advantage. But the Serbian player has won their last six meetings, which all took place in 2011. Two of the wins were in Grand Slam finals, Wimbledon and the US Open, but the two have not yet met in the Australian Open. Djokovic is the defending Australian Open champion and is seeking his third major in succession. The last meeting of the two was in the US Open final in September. – JOHNNY WATTERSON

(1) Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

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(2) Rafael Nadal (Spain)