Andy Murray exults today after his win over David Ferrer in the men's semifinals at the Australian Open.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Andy Murray will get another chance to end a near 75-year winless streak for British men in Grand Slam singles tournaments after beating Spain’s David Ferrer 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1, 7-6 (2) today to reach the Australian Open final.

The semifinal win put Murray into Sunday’s final against Novak Djokovic of Serbia, the 2008 champion who holds a 4-3 edge in head-to-head matches. Murray, however, has won the last three.

No British male has won a Grand Slam singles title since Fred Perry in 1936 — more than 270 Grand Slam tournaments ago. The drought endured through British hopes including Tim Henman and most recently by Murray in last year’s straight-set loss to Roger Federer at Melbourne Park.

Federer is gone from this tournament, beaten by Djokovic in the semifinals. Top-ranked Rafael Nadal, who was trying to win his fourth straight Grand Slam tournament, is gone too. He was hobbled by a thigh injury in his quarterfinal loss to Ferrer.

The semifinal was filled with long rallies and plenty of booming forehands that just cleared the net. Murray mixed it up enough at times that his looping lob on break point at 4-1 in the third set went high over seventh-seeded Ferrer’s head, allowing the Spaniard to only watch as the ball bounced meters inside the line.

“My body was feeling it a bit at the end,” said Murray. “Both of us did a lot of running.”

Ferrer rued his missed opportunities, but said he couldn’t have done any more.

“Andy, in important moments, serve better than me. So I can’t do nothing more,” he said. “I fight a lot. I tried my best game all the time, but Andy’s a very, very great player.”

Kim Clijsters, who will play the women’s final Saturday against Li Na of China, thinks that 2011 will “probably” be her last full year on the tennis tour.

When asked today if the Australian Open women’s final could be her last appearance at Melbourne Park, the 27-year-old Clijsters replied: “Yeah, it is.”

“I know this is probably going to be my last full season on the tour, and then we’ll see,” she said.