Andy Murray had only played Alexandr Dolgopolov once, nearly 4 years ago, in a clay court in a Davis Cup match.  Murray won this against a very young Dolgopolov.  He expected a far different match from the one he had played so many years ago.  Dolgopolov has a reputation for being a tricky player to play.  He slices and dices.  When you hit powerful shots crosscourt, he hits laser shots up-the-line.  And he moves quick.

All of which gave Murray immeasurable problems early on.  Murray was in danger of losing his serve right off the bat, but with a little luck, held serve.  This wasn’t going to be a cakewalk like his previous matches.  Murray was going to have to work awfully hard to avoid being an upset.

The two began breaking each other, Dolgopolov twice, Murray three times, and Murray took the first set.  With Murray getting a better sense of how to play Dolgopolov and with Dolgopolov hitting as many errors as winners, Murray claimed the second set with a single break.

At this point, Murray must have felt Dolgopolov was going away.  He was up a break in the third set.  But it was not to be.  Dolgopolov would continue to fight, earn back the break, and then the two would head into tiebreak where Dolgopolov would get the lead and win a set.

Murray must have been a bit frustrated against such a tricky opponent.  But the fourth set started off with a double break and Murray seemed in control.  Dolgopolov got one break back, but Murray only needed the one break lead to win the quarterfinal 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.

Meanwhile, the other quarterfinals saw a hobbled Nadal try valiantly to beat the speedy, tenacious David Ferrer.  Nadal seemed bothered by a hamstring.

Although the match is not yet concluded (and thus dangerous to post), Ferrer is up 6-4, 6-2, 5-2 up.  Nadal is serving to stay in the match.  Nadal was struggling to get to balls while Ferrer did his best to move Nadal around, knowing an injured Nadal is still capable of winning matches.

And Ferrer wins 6-3 in the third set and reaches a semifinal in a hardcourt Slam.  The Rafa Slam, so tantalizingly close, is over.

Thus, Murray plays Ferrer and Federer plays Djokovic in the Aussie Open semifinals to be played Friday, Australia time.