Andy Murray has hailed the impact of his coach Amélie Mauresmo after the Scot reached his fourth Australian Open final in six years.
Murray is into his first Grand Slam final since winning Wimbledon in 2013 having beaten Czech Tomás Berdych in four sets, 6-7 (6-8), 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 to reach Melbourne Park decider.
"A lot of people criticised me working with her," Murray said on court in his post-match interview. "It think so far this week we've showed women can be very good coaches as well," he added to rapturous applause from the Rod Laver Arena crowd.
"Madison Keys reached the [women's singles] semis here and had her best tournament is also coached by a woman in Lindsay Davenport, and I see no reason why that can't move forward like that in the future.
"So I'm very thankful for Amélie for doing it. It was a very brave choice from her to do it. Hopefully I can repay her in a few days."
The Scot's former coach Daniel Vallverdu left Murray's set-up after five years last November and has since hooked up with Berdych.
"It was a little bit extra tension," said Murray of pre-match hype regarding Vallverdu. "A lot was made of Danny, my ex-coach, working with [Berdych]. Me and Danny have been friends since we were 15-years-old and I felt like that was a little bit unfair and unnecessary.
"This is sport. There's more to life than just sport and it created a bit of extra tension."
Murray will next face either top seed Novak Djokovic or defending champion Stan Wawrinka.
Earlier, Serena Williams sealed a women's singles final against Maria Sharapova.
World No.6 Andy #Murray is into his 4th #ausopen final after a drama-filled 6-7(6) 6-0 6-3 7-5 victory over #Berdych pic.twitter.com/AEmsJfSKmP
— Australian Open (@AustralianOpen) January 29, 2015
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