Omens suggest that British No 1 can claim his place among game's elite

There is every chance Andy Murray could end 74 years of hurt and become the first British man to lift a grand slam singles title since the great Fred Perry in 1936.

That, to put the generations of failure into stark perspective, is the year Edward VIII abdicated, Stanley Baldwin was Prime Minister, Gone With The Wind was published and Jesse Owens won the 100 yards gold medal at the 'Hitler' Olympics.'

It is not just the fact Murray has reached the Australian Open final in 2010 which gives rise to such optimism, it is the way he has arrived there.

He has carried himself this last fortnight in Melbourne with the air of a man who is ready to take that leap from a splendid player who can mix it with the best in the world to a place of greatness.

It was there in his quarter-final against Rafael Nadal when he pulverised the Spaniard before Nadal was forced to withdraw injured.

And it was there again yesterday in the semi-final when he took on the dangerous Croat Marin Cilic, went a set down but elevated his game to new heights with a 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-2 victory.

Along the way there were cameos of excellence rarely witnessed from a British player.

Such as the forehand winner when he retrieved a lob with an improvised swat of savage audacity.

Then there was the scrambling running pass in the final set, retrieved from so wide out that it went around the net post and signalled to Cilic here was a man prepared to run down everything to keep his date with destiny.

Did you not feel proud to witness such effort and brilliance under the Union Jack banner? If not then you should have because this was sport at its finest.

There is good reason to believe Murray will not follow such an inspired performance with the flop which has been something of a habit in the past.

True, we should not get too far ahead of ourselves. The final throws up either the greatest tennis player the world has seen in Roger Federer or a dangerous Frenchman in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who reached the final in 2008 and defeated Novak Djokovic in this year's quarter-final. They play today.

But there is no doubt the omens say Murray is ready.

For one, it is his 17th grand slam, exactly the same as Federer before he eventually lifted his first major singles crown at Wimbledon in 2003.

For another, Murray's game is so much better than when he lost his only previous final in straight sets to Federer at the

US Open in 2008.

The second serve, so vulnerable to date, has come on leaps and top-spin bounds since Wimbledon last year.

He is hitting the forehand with more power and his double-handed backhand is one of the most lethal weapons in the game.

But what makes him such a threat in the final, for which he will have had two days' rest, is his ability to think his way through a tennis match, the ability to mix up his game.

Right now Murray arguably possesses more ways of beating an opponent than any other man on tour.

There have been other British men's finalists since Perry all those years ago but none have possessed the talent of Murray. None have appeared so equipped to embrace history.