Britain's Andy Murray faced down his Grand Slam nemesis Roger Federer in an electrifying five-set thriller to reach the Australian Open final on Friday night.

The US Open champion finally ended his run of Grand Slam failures against the Swiss world No 2, winning their semifinal 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2 in exactly four hours.

Murray (pictured) is now into in his third Australian final and will play defending champion Novak Djokovic on Sunday, a rematch of the US Open decider when the Scot won his first Grand Slam title in September.

Murray extended his record over Federer, the 17-time major champion, to 11-9, but it was his first victory over Federer in four Grand Slam matches.

It will be Murray's sixth Grand Slam final and he is the first Briton to reach three Australian Open finals.

"It's always tough against Roger and he's at his best in the Grand Slams and when his back is against the wall, and (when) I was serving for the match at 6-5 he produced some great shots," Murray said. "I kept fighting and he made a few loose shots early in the fifth set and I stuck in."

(China Daily 01/26/2013 page16)