Australian Open 2015: Andy Murray impressive but Tomas Berdych is showing real class, says Barry Cowan

Sky Sports tennis expert Barry Cowan was impressed with Andy Murray's Australian Open quarter-final win over Nick Kyrgios, but warns that things will be a lot tougher against Tomas Berdych in the semi-final...

That was a great match and performance from both Murray and Kyrgios. It was kind of a shame it didn’t go to a fourth set, but Andy was very impressive.

The tie-break in the second set was something else. Those couple of lobs Murray hit in the breaker really did turn it around when Kyrgios was threatening to steal it. Once it was two sets to love, there was no way in my mind that Murray was going to let go of that opportunity to reach the semi-final.

It's still a little bit too early to say Murray is 'back to his best', because his best was winning Grand Slams and winning the Olympic final. And we must keep this run in context, because he's played Grigor Dimitrov and Kyrgios in the last two matches. But I just like the way he’s gone about it in terms of his tennis. I like the way he's gone about it in terms of his attitude. I like the ways he's gone about it in terms of stepping up and being brave and creative, which is something that Andy didn't do last year at times. 

Fascinating

I wrote in my column coming into the tournament that Andy needed to step up, but he didn’t necessarily need to win the tournament to show that he was on the right path. He's shown that already, and it’s all set up now for what will be a fascinating semi-final against Berdych, who he has struggled against in the past. 

Once it was two sets to love, there was no way in my mind that Murray was going to let go of that opportunity to reach the semi-final.

The Czech player has troubled Andy in some of their past meetings, and Tomas has played well, not just this week but I was also really impressed with the way he played in Doha. It's clear he’s trying to address the areas that have let him down, not just last year but also in his woeful head-to-head record against Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the past. 

The fact that he beat Rafa means he has that monkey off his back. He beat the Spaniard for the first time since 2006 - he lost 17 in a row before then - and it’s arguable to say he won't have gone into a semi-final of a Grand Slam fancying himself better than he will right now. 

Berdych will feel, that against someone like Andy, the match is in his control. However, a word of caution for him - Andy is playing very, very aggressively and I thought he was really smart against Kyrgios.

Courage

The first serve is not a problem for Berdych, but the second can be very predictable. His overall play can also be very predictable, and that’s why he has had that record against Nadal and Djokovic. He’s started to work with Danny Vallverdu at the start of the 2015 season, who of course coached Andy for quite a few years, and they have addressed the area of his game that had to improve if he was to beat the best.

Berdych is an aggressive baseline player, but he has needed to be more courageous coming forward at the right time and not just looking to sit back and hit winners from the back of the court. Berdych volleys well. It is so difficult to hit clean winners consistently in the long matches against the best players, which is ultimately why Berdych has struggled.

There are signs that he’s realised he needs to make that improvement and also show, and I want to stress this – what a class act he is, that so quickly into their relationship he’s getting results straight away.

This is a very difficult game to call. It really is for me 50/50. You can make a case for Murray but you can make also make a strong one for Berdych too but my hunch is to go for another Murray Djokovic final.