Monfils saved a match point and shrugged off a knee complaint to beat second seed Gilles Simon 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in two and a half hours on Saturday, before witnessing an almost perfect Berdych blast Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber off court in the second semi-final.

Monfils conceded the opening set in 43 minutes, but he bagged the tiebreak in the second after staving off a match point at 5-6 and then stepped up a gear with a break at the start of the final set.

Simon battled back to 3-3 but then conceded serve once more as Monfils pipped him to the wire.

Berdych, the world number seven, won 34 of 34 points on his first serve and saved all five break points he faced to beat Kohlschreiber for the seventh time in eight meetings.

Berdych, making his debut at the ATP World Tour 250 event, is aiming to land his seventh career title.

It will be the second meeting between the 13th-ranked Monfils and the Czech player, with Berdych comfortably winning their only previous meeting in Dubai in 2008, 6-3 6-2 (11/8 Berdych 2-0 in Set Betting).

Marcos Baghdatis

The volatile Cypriot, a former Melbourne finalist, did not even remove the final two from their wrapper as he lost his rag during a changeover in the third set as he went down in four against Stanislas Wawrinka.
 
His first-round clash with Lukas Rosol (5/1 - Match Betting, Baghdatis 1/8) should be a much more sedate affair with the pair due to meet for the first time in the Croatian captital in a tournament that looks wide open, with no player inside the world top 25 entered.

Ivan Ljubicic (9/2 - Tournament Outright) is the top seed in the absence of injury-hit Marin Cilic and, even at the age of 32, could take some stopping in the top half of the draw, which also includes third seed Mikhail Youzhny (6/1), eighth seed Ivo Karlovic (8/1) and Sergiy Stakhovsky (25/1) – who won two ATP 250 events in 2010.

Ivan Dodig (12/1) will carry local hopes in the bottom half of the draw while Lukas Lacko (20/1) could be a dangerous unseeded player and Robin Haase (20/1) may also challenge the likes of Baghdatis and Alex Bogomolov Junior (7/1).

Ljubicic (1/6) faces world number 100 Karol Beck (4/1) in the first round and although he has beaten the Czech in their last two meetings, both encounters went to three sets (10/3 Ljubicic 2-1 - Set Betting).

Davydenko (2/5 - Match Betting) has now dropped to 52 in the world after four straight defeats, including a five-set, first-round loss to Flavio Cipolla in Melbourne a fortnight ago.

The Russian will be desperate to reverse that slump and notch a much-needed win against first-round opponent Robert (15/8) in Montpellier.

They have met only once before, on the Croatian clay courts in Umag two years ago, when Davydenko broke Robert four times without dropping his own serve to record a facile 6-1 6-2 victory.

Robert, the world number 106, is one of many French players in the draw for the indoor hard-court tournament and could set up a second-round meeting with Richard Gasquet if he were to overcome the out-of-form Davydenko.

Gasquet (9/2 - Tournament Outright) is the fourth seed while fellow countrymen Gilles Simon (9/2) and Gael Monfils (4/1) are second and third seeds behind world number seven Tomas Berdych (4/1).

Rafael Nadal

Nadal will have watched on with a big smile on his face on Friday as Andy Murray took Djokovic to five sets in a semi-final which lasted just under five hours.

The Serb looked exhausted at times and afterwards pointed towards a repeat of the breathing problems that bothered him during the clash with Lleyton Hewitt as to why he was struggling.

With less than 48 hours to recover before he steps out at the Rod Laver Arena for the final against Nadal, many believe the Spaniard has been handed the advantage in the battle for the first major of the year.

However, the second seed was keen to point towards his 2009 semi-final with Fernando Verdasco which lasted over five hours, Nadal recovering in time to get the better of Roger Federer in the Australian Open final two days later.

Nadal believes the powers of recovery Djokovic has will mean he is fighting fit for their clash on Sunday.

“In 2009 I played longer than him (Federer) in the semi-finals. I was recovered for the final, so I think you can say it’s unfair, yes, but not crazy unfair,” said Nadal, when asked whether it was fair he got a day extra to rest.

“Really unfair is the US Open when you don’t have day off between semifinals and final. Having one day off, I believe you are not in big trouble.”

Having beaten Nadal in six straight finals last year (10/3 to win 3-0) and claiming three out of the four Grand Slams the Spaniard believes Djokovic’s confidence will also give him an edge.

“When you are coming with that confidence, everything is a little bit easier,” Nadal added. “I think for him is an advantage, not a pressure, to be in that situation.”

Andy Murray

The 24-year-old produced one of the best performances of his career in pushing world number one Djokovic all the way on Friday, only to lose in five sets.

Having been crushed by the Serb in the final 12 months earlier the performance was a marked improvement and Murray believes he is ready to beat the world’s best.

“I think that gap, I feel tonight I closed it,” said the world number four.

“My job over the next two or three months is to surpass him [Djokovic] and the guys in front of me.”

Murray has made it to the semi-finals of the last five grand slams but each time his hopes of finally winning a major have been ended by either Djokovic or Rafael Nadal.

Roger Federer has also been a thorn in Murray’s side having beaten him in two of the three grand slam finals he has reached.

However, under new coach Ivan Lendl Murray appears to have upped his game and is confident it won’t be too long before he is a grand slam winner.

“Everybody matures at different ages and different rates,” he added.

“I feel like I’m now ready mentally. Physically I can still get better for sure.”

After watching the semi-final with Djokovic, Nadal (5/4 Australian Open outright) said he thought only a mental block was stopping Murray from becoming the best player in the world.

Novak Djokovic

The Serbian defending champion ran out a 6-3 3-6 6-7 (4/7) 6-1 7-5 winner in Melbourne on Friday after falling two sets to one down despite taking the opener against the British number one.

Djokovic was also broken to love when serving for the match at 5-3 up in the final set before saving three break points and going on to break the Scot to book his final appearance.

The gruelling encounter lasted for almost five hours but for Murray the key statistic is that his wait to break his Grand Slam duck goes on.

Afterwards Djokovic revealed that the match had taken a lot out of him as he looks to retain his title by beating Spanish hope Nadal.

The world number one said: “It was evidently a physical match, it was one of the best matches I have played, emotionally and physically it.”

Meanwhile, Victoria Azarenka is an 8/11 favourite to beat Maria Sharapova (11/10) in the women’s final on the Rod Laver Arena on Saturday.

Maria Sharapova

The Russian star made up for her straight-sets Wimbledon defeat against Kvitova last summer by overcoming her familiar opponent in three sets, 6-2 3-6 6-4, in Melbourne.

The win sets up a Saturday final showdown against Victoria Azarenka and whoever comes out on top will claim the world number one crown from Caroline Wozniacki (Sharapova evens to win first set, Azarenka 4/5).

Sharapova, who won Down Under four years ago, admitted she had to dig deep to secure the semi-final win and knows she was not at her best in the clash.

“I felt like in the third set she always had the advantage,” Sharapova said. “I just thought to myself ‘you’ve just got to go for it’.

“I just hung in there and got a few returns in there in the last game.

“I love this sport and sometimes even if you’re not playing your best tennis, you can find a way to win,” she added.

Andy Murray

The British number one has barely broke sweat en route to the last four in Melbourne but faces unquestionably the biggest test of his credentials when he comes up against world number one Djokovic in an eagerly-awaited clash.

Murray lost to the Serb in the final of the same competition last year but has only dropped one set – against Ryan Harrison – this time around.

The Scot said his plan was to attack from the first whistle and not allow defending champion Djokovic to dictate what could be an epic battle (Murray +3.5 – match handicap 5/4).

He said: “You have to play great tennis and try to take his legs away.

“I will need to have a gameplan, stay focused and try to do better than I did last year.”

Murray trails 6-4 in the head-to-heads but has beaten Djokovic in three ATP Tour Finals, stretching back to Cincinnati in 2008.

Andy Murray

The British number one made it to his third consecutive semi-final at the tournament in Melbourne thanks to a fairly comfortable 6-3 6-3 6-1 success against the 22-year-old Japanese 24th seed, Nishikori, who he also defeated in straight sets at last year’s Shanghai Masters in their only other encounter.

However, with the prospect of facing world number one, Djokovic, who defeated David Ferrer 6-4 7-6 (7/4) 6-1 in his last-eight clash on Wednesday, Murray (9/2 Outright) feels he will have to shift up another gear if he is to progress to the final.

The 24-year-old Scot, who lost out to Djokovic in last year’s Australian Open final, said: “It was a good match, a lot of fun points, most of them he was winning so I was trying to keep them as short as possible.

“But I need to serve better. My game has been getting better each match and I am moving better and I am going to be fresh going into the weekend.”

Maria Sharapova

The Russian star will go head-to-head with the Czech Republic ace on Thursday for a place in the final at Melbourne Park after they came through their respective quarter-final matches on Wednesday.

Sharapova was too good for fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova, running out a 6-2 6-3 winner Down Under, while Wimbledon champion Kvitova beat unseeded Italian Sara Errani 6-4 6-4 in a match lasting an hour and 51 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

Kvitova will become the new world number one if she wins the final and she will be confident of reaching Saturday’s show-piece, having taken care of Sharapova in straight sets in the final at SW19 last summer (Kvitova 13/8 Tournament Outright).

Sharapova is under no illusions as to the task she faces but made it clear that she will be giving it her all to try and advance to the final against an opponent who is currently top dog in the women’s game.

“I think she’s the one to beat right now, she’s playing the best tennis of her career, coming off so many wins last year. I’m looking forward to the match-up,” she said.

“I don’t like losing so many times in a row so I’ll certainly be going out there and trying to play my best.”