Can any Murray finally win a Grand slam? So many times he has come so close, yet he has remained so far away. Perhaps in 2012 he can put all those failures behind him and break his grand slam duck.

Certainly if he continues in the manner in which he reached the semi-finals in Brisbane on 6th January there is every reason to consider that his chances are good. Currently Murray is the world Number 4.

Certainly he appeared sharper than he has looked for some time as he totally dominated Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-2. His performance has gradually improved throughout the tournament and in this match he was completely ruthless and did not let Baghdatis, who was once a finalist in the Australian open, off the hook for a second. He broke his four times a match that lasted for only 66 minutes.

Afterwards Murray described how solid he had felt throughout the match and how he had been moving much better and not permitting Baghdatis to hit many winners. He is correct in attributing so much to his movement, for it is apparent that when he gets that aspect of his game right, then everything else just falls into place.

Next up is the semi-final where he plays Bernard Tomic who is still a teenager. Although only 19, he is a very promising player and Murray knows that he must take the match very seriously even though this is the furthest Tomic has gone in any ATP tournament.

Betting on the Australian Open is heating up and odds on Murray are getting shorter. According to Coral tennis betting, currently he is the third favourite (up from fourth). Above him are the favourite Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Rafael Nadal has now fallen to fourth.

The favourite for the Women’s is Petra Kvitova followed by Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka.