MELBOURNE, Australia—The way the second men’s semifinal of the Australian Open began, it looked like Milos Raonic would steamroll his way toward history. The 25-year-old was trying to become the first Canadian to ever reach a Grand Slam singles final. But an unrelenting Andy Murray refused to go away, dragging their contest into a fifth set before prevailing over an injured Raonic, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2.

Raonic was the fresher looking player at the start, and began the match by breaking Murray at love. After that first break, Raonic simply held serve—with some strikes as fast as 144 M.P.H.—to secure the first set. There wasn’t much Murray could do despite being owning one of the best returns in the game.

“He came out hitting the ball very clean at the beginning; I didn’t,” Murray said.

In the second set, Murray was standing miles behind the baseline to return Raonic’s cannonball serves, often forced to bunt shots back. But Raonic began missing just a tiny bit more, especially from the net. It was enough to give Murray some hope. At 6-5, Murray got the unexpected service break and took the set.

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Injury and relentless Murray do in Raonic at Australian Open

Injury and relentless Murray do in Raonic at Australian Open

These two men couldn’t be more opposite in appearance and demeanor. Raonic is meticulously put together and a calm, expressionless perfectionist; Murray, an emotionally charged firecracker, has a look could sometimes be described as disheveled. The Scot glared up at his box in disgust or excitement after nearly every point, fingers of his left hand splayed, pointed teeth bared. Raonic, on the other hand, kept his head down and his face serene, like he has this whole tournament.

The third set saw Raonic kick his serve up into an even higher gear. The crowd was fairly split in its support, going in Raonic’s favor on a few occasions but steadied back by Murray’s biggest fans—four young guys in white shirts spelling out “ANDY.” They would stand up to belt out songs, such as one set to Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of…Murray). It turns out only one of them hails from Great Britain (the “A”), but the other three Australians have been Murray fans for over seven years. And yes, they said that they do wash their embroidered Under Armour shirts between Murray’s matches.

The third set had very few points last for more than nine shots, and a tiebreak seemed inevitable. Murray was scampering from side to side, often releasing massive grunts mid-point as he raced down forehand inside-outs, while Raonic was barely emitting any sounds at all.

Raonic opened the tiebreak with a ridiculous forehand angle return winner, and then closed it by hitting an even more ridiculous bouncing overhead winner down the line.

“You just try and use different things when you’re on the court. Obviously losing that third set was tough. He played a good tiebreaker,” Murray said. “I was starting to hit the ball better in the third set I was hitting the ball cleaner from the back of the court and I wasn’t allowing him to dictate as many points as I was in the beginning.”

Early in the fourth set, Raonic requested to leave the court for a medical timeout. Given the chilly weather, with temperatures in the upper 50s, and his flowing momentum, the decision was an odd one. After the match, Raonic explained that it was an adductor injury and it prevented him from changing direction and pushing off his serve properly.

“It’s unfortunate—probably the most heart broken I’ve felt on court,” Raonic said. “But that’s what it is.”

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Injury and relentless Murray do in Raonic at Australian Open

Injury and relentless Murray do in Raonic at Australian Open

Trailing 2-3, Murray nailed a backhand down-the-line pass, and the success at finally passing Raonic gave him new life. In the next game, the Scot broke Raonic at love. His grunts got louder and his sensitivity to Rod Laver Arena’s noises increased.

Every fan’s extended late yell, or the sound of something dropping, caused Murray to pause at the baseline dramatically, as if someone was trying to steal his unborn child. In any case, he managed to come back from 15-40 down to hold at 5-4 and force a fifth set. Raonic’s unforced errors were adding up (17 in the fourth set) while Murray’s were staying remarkably low (eight in the fourth set and then just two in the fifth).

To begin the final set, Raonic lost his serve, and finally, his nerve. The emotions he had been bottling up all match, all tournament long, exploded as he shattered his racquet in disgust.

“I think maybe [the injury] is why I lashed out after I did at the start of that fifth set,” Raonic said. “I guess that was sort of just the whole frustration of everything sort of getting out. I don’t think it’s like myself to do, but sometimes it’s a little bit too much to keep in.”

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The Canadian’s reserve had finally cracked, and he lost the next three games in quick succession. Down 4-0, Raonic managed to hold serve to get on the board, but he was facing an insurmountable mountain in a hyped-up and confident Murray. Murray didn’t lose serve after the first game of the match.

“Eventually I was able to engage him in more baseline rallies and dictate more points, which made him do more of the running,” Murray said. “Obviously if his injury was restricting him, I wanted to keep the rallies like that. I wanted to be the one dictating.”

Up 5-2, the world No. 2 sealed his spot in the final with an easy hold at love. Murray now gets the great task of facing Novak Djokovic, the same man who beat him in resounding fashion in last year's Australian Open final.

“There’s very few players that will have made five Australian Open finals, so I have to be proud of that achievement,” Murray said.

He then referred to Stan Wawrinka’s upset over Djokovic in the 2014 Australian Open quarterfinals; it was the Swiss’ first win over the Serb in eight years. That can serve as some much needed inspiration for Murray, who beat Djokovic last year in Montreal, but is 9-21 against him overall.

“I don’t think many people are expecting me to win on Sunday. I have to just believe in myself, have a solid game plan,” Murray said. “There’s no reason it’s not possible for me to win.”