Andy Murray made a successful return to the ATP tour after 3 weeks off, the last time the Scot hit a tennis ball in a competitive match was his defeat in the final of the Australian Open.

Murray playing in the opening day of the Dubai Tennis Championships eased by his first round opponent Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn – Murray winning the match 6-2 6-3.

The world number 4 will now take on either Andreas Seppi or Janko Tipsarevic in the second round clash.

With a straight sets victory to 2 and 3, you would normally expect a 1 hour match, but the matched lasted closer to two hours mainly down to the colossal 34-point second game  that lasted nearly half an hour before Murray finally won it on his 9th break point, a total of 14 deuces in the game. If you were wondering you can win a set in little as 24 points (6 love games) or even win a  set 6-2 in less than 34 points. After that break of serve Murray did indeed go on to win the set 6-2. That epic game which lasted 24 minutes and 30 seconds,  is believed to be one of the longest games in the Open Era.

His Russian opponent, Igor Kunitsyn, ranked 111th in the world, faught back from dropping that opening set by breaking in the opening game of the second, but in typical Murray style the Scot immeadiatly broke back, after that the match was in little doubt as Murray went to secure another break and take the second set 6-2.

The only negative aspect of the match for Murray was that he appeared to have one or two physical issues, after his win Murray said

My ankle was sore at the start of the match and I was really out of breath early on. I have not practised that much, or trained that much and there were a lot of long rallies….You don’t think that at 1-0 it could make a huge difference to the match, but I think it did. I’ve never played a game like that before.

Second seed (but really first seed after the withdrawal of Roger Federer through illness) Novak Djokovic also made it through to the second round beating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4 6-4.

With the withdrawal of the Four-time former champion Roger Federer from the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, Novak Djokovic, the world number 2 is the top seed with world number 4 Andy Murray second seed. Though Spaniard Tommy Robredo takes Federer place at the top of the draw because it had already been drawn before the Swiss player pulled out.

Federer was forced to withdraw from the event due to a lung infection and world number 3 Rafael Nadal is still taking time out to fully recover from his several knee injuries.

In the bottom half of the draw Djokovic looks to have a clear run through to the quarters were he would likely face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, though the French man may have tough second round match against tough Croatian Ivan Ljubicic. Nikolay Davydenko would likely meet the winner if that quarter final in the bottom half semi final.

In the top half of the draw, the top quarter is lacking it’s top sees and should see 6th seed Marin Cilic emerge into the semi finals to face probably Andy Murray in a repeat of the 2010 Australian open semi final.

The 2010 Australian Open final between 15 time grand slam winner Roger Federer and Andy Murray will take place on the Rod Laver Arena tomorrow at 19:30 local time (8.30am UK time).

Andy Murray will be attempting to end the 74 year old wait for a British grand slam winner, whilst Roger Federer will be trying for his 4th title in Melbourne and extending his record number of slams to his name.

One stat that surely stands out more than any other is that when Roger Federer one his first grand slam he was aged 22 and competing in his 17th grand slam. Andy Murray is currently 22 and the Australian Open is the Scot’s 17th grand slam. The question is can Andy Murray emulate Federer?

The bookmakers see it has more likely that Murray will have to wait a little longer to claim that elusive first grand slam, with tradional bookies seeing Roger Federer favorite at 4/7 and Murray’s chances ranging from 6/5 to 3/2, though Betfair is offering even better odds than that.

Over the last 5 years the only thing that has changed about British players success in grand slams is the increase in the number of years since a British player lifted a grand slam trophy.

When Andy Murray burst onto the tennis scene in the summer of 2005, the question being asked then was – Can Andy Murray end Britain’s 69 year wait for a grand slam winner? It’s now 74 years since Fred Perry lifted his grand slam title and the debate over Andy Murray’s grand slam chances has never stopped.

Murray has ended one 72 year old record this week, not since Henry ‘Bunny’ Austin had a British player reached two grand slam finals – Murray reached his first slam final 17 months ago at the US Open, that day he fell short against the then 12 time grand slam champion Roger Federer.

Since that final Federer has reached every grand slam final and is now a 15 time grand slam champion, whilst Murray has failed to reach the grand slam heights that many predicted losing in the last 4 slams to players he regularly beats and ranked lower than the Scot.

Murray’s 2009 was his most successful year to date, with 6 titles and a brief spell as the world number 2, but despite those accomplishments 2009 will remain as the year that Murray did not win a grand slam. Many great things were predicted for Murray in 2009 including winning the Australian Open, he was favorite in many peoples eyes going into the event, but Murray lost in the 4th round to Fernando Verdasco a player he had beaten 6 times in a row.

2010 is starting how many people expected 2009 to start – Will 2009 be the last year that Murray did not win a grand slam?

Andy Murray reaches his second grand slam final after a 4 set win over 14th seed Croatian Marin Cilic.

It took Murray over an hour and one phenominal point to spark the Scot into life as eventually won through 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-2.

After early chances in the first set to break the Croat’s serve , Murray seemed to waver in confidence, he was subsequently broken twice as Cilic claimed the first set. The start of second set was much the same with Murray continuing to struggle on his own serve and Cilic dominating the points.

With the score at 2-2 and Cilic serving, Murray showed signs of better play when he carved out his first break point in a while, what followed was probably the point of that tournament. Cilic fired a back hand into the  top net and it dropped on Murray’s sides of the court, Murray somehow managed to retrieve it before an exchange of volleys seen Cilic lob the Scot. Murray chased it down and  with his back to the court produced a squash style shot that flew by a gobsmacked Cilic rooted at the spot.

Andy Murray will now face either Jo Wilfred Tsonga or Roger Federer in the final, the second semi final will take place tomorrow and the final on Sunday.

In reaching his second grand slam final he becomes the first Britsh Man since John Lloyd to reach the Australian Open final in 1977 and becomes the first British man in the open era to reach two grand slam finals.

Andy Murray has just recorded his third win over Rafael Nadal and in doing so reaches his first Australian Open semi final. This will be his third career grand slam final and as for his semi final opponent Marin Cilic this will be the Croat’s first grand slam semi final, in fact Cilic is the first ever player from Croatia to reach the semi final stage at the Melbourne event.

Marin Cilic is currently the world number 14 and is also seeded 14th for this event, born in the Bosnian village of Medjugorje when it is was still part of Yugoslavia, this 21 year old now flying the flag of Croatia turned pro the same year as Andy Murray.

His progress since turning pro in 2005 until the last 6 months had not been as stellar as is other young counterparts. World number 3 Novak Djokovic, world number 5 Juan Martin Del Potro and his opponent on Thursday world number 4 Andy Murray have all been mixing at the very top of the game for a few years now.

Cilic comes into the match on a 9 match winning streak having won the tournament in Chennai, India prior to the Australian Open, it was the Croats fouth ATP title after success in New haven in 2008 and Chennai and Zagreb in 2009.

Murray and Cilic have met 4 times with Murray holding a 3-1 advantage over Cilic, though crucially perhaps the latest match was a surprise straight sets victory 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 for Cilic in the 4th round of the US Open. The shock victory against Murray who was the 2nd favorite for the title and the previous year’s finalist was seen as a major major upset and heaped heavy criticism against Murray.

Since that win though, cilic has been showing signs that, that win at the US open could well have been the begining of his rise to the top of the game, he dispatched another top 10 player Andy Roddick in the quarter finals here and out matched US open champion Juan Martin Del Potro in the 4th round.

For Murray though the semi-final against Cilic will give the Scot the perfect chance to revenge that US open defeat and reach his second career grand slam final.

Murray is favorite with the bookmakers.