Murray gets better of unorthodox Dolgopolov but hampered Nadal sees his grand slam dream perish

Andy Murray moved into the semi-finals of the Australian Open yesterday and then watched as his expected last-four opponent Rafael Nadal crashed out.

Murray beat Alexandr Dolgopolov in four sets to continue his impressive form but Nadal could not follow suit a couple of hours later as, severely restricted by a hamstring injury, the world

No 1 lost to David Ferrer to end his hopes of holding all four grand slam titles at the same time.

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Murray had been the last man to beat Nadal in a major after the Spaniard retired with a knee problem when two sets down in their quarter-final in Melbourne 12 months ago to the day.

But the Spaniard, who subsequently won at the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open, will not get the chance this week to avenge that loss as he went out 6-4 6-2 6-3.

Dolgopolov's willingness to vary the pace and use different spins makes him different from the majority of the players on the ATP Tour and he certainly caused the world No 5 problems before Murray came through 7-5 6-3 6-7 (3/7) 6-3 in three hours and six minutes.

"He's just unorthodox, very different to how most guys play," said Murray. "Obviously it's tough to get into a rhythm but he's also a very, very good player, definitely not someone to be underestimated.

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"He's had some very good wins this week. I'm sure he'll give a lot of players problems in the future.

"So he was very good but I played well."

Dolgopolov, the world No 46 who beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Robin Soderling in his previous two matches, had numerous opportunities to take a grip on the match but too often let Murray off the hook with moments of carelessness.

Murray clinched the first set when he broke at 6-5 and he strengthened his grip on the match by breaking again for a

3-1 lead in the second after Dolgopolov wasted a game point by needlessly attempting an extravagant backhand smash.

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With Murray dropping just two points on serve in the set there was no way back for Dolgopolov as the Scot edged further ahead.

Dolgopolov was facing a mountainous challenge and he made his task even harder by carelessly tossing away his opening service game of the third set with a couple of unforced errors.

He hit back to level at 3-3 and then clinched the set on the tie-break as Murray's concentration seemed to wander. But having worked so hard to get back in the contest, Dolgopolov promptly handed the initiative back to Murray at the start of the fourth set by dropping his opening service game after committing four unforced errors.

In the blink of an eye, Murray had moved 3-0 up after winning 12 points on the trot. That soon became 4-0 with the Scot gaining a double break as Dolgopolov appeared to tire.

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The Ukrainian got one of the breaks back but not a second as Murray served it out to seal the win.

Nadal refused to disclose the nature of his injury problem but appeared to strain his left hamstring in the second game of his quarter-final against Ferrer and was powerless to prevent his countryman from cruising to a 6-4 6-2 6-3 win.

Nadal would not answer specific questions on the subject, partly out of respect to Ferrer, partly because he claimed he did not know the exact nature of the injury and partly because he did not want to be portrayed as making excuses.

Justine Henin has announced her retirement from tennis for a second time after admitting defeat in her attempt to recover from an elbow injury.

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The 28-year-old first quit the sport in 2008 when she was ranked world No 1 but had a change of heart the following year and returned to the WTA Tour in January 2010.

Yesterday the Belgian revealed that injury has forced her to call time on her playing days for good.