A victorious Andy Murray says he expects Roger Federer to be his opponent in the Australian Open final on Sunday. The British number one overcame Marin Cilic in four sets on Thursday morning to win through to just his second Grand Slam final, becoming the first Briton to make it to the last stage of the Australian Open in 33 years.

John Lloyd is the man Murray will replace in the history books and he will be looking to go one better than Lloyd, who lost in the 1977 final to Vitas Gerulaitis. To do that, he will have to overcome either Federer or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, with the second finalist to be determined on Friday.

Murray has a great chance to become the first British winner of a Grand Slam since Fred Perry in 1936 and knows that he has an excellent opportunity whoever he comes up against, if he can stick to his game plan.

"I would expect Roger to come through and he's so good in slam finals but if I go out there and play my best I think I've got a chance of winning and it's really exciting,” said Murray immediately after his 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-2 win over Cilic in Melbourne.

"It'll be important to play a solid match. Both of them can go through phases when they play incredible tennis. I'm going to need to not leave the ball short because they can both dictate play."

The 22-year-old will now have two days off before the final while his opponent will not be decided until Friday morning. That period of rest is in contrast to Murray’s appearance at the 2008 US Open, in which he had to come off the back of a five set slog against Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals to play Federer just 24 hours later.

He went on to lose 2-6 5-7 2-6 in that anti-climatic final and had failed to reach another Grand Slam final until his victory over Cilic on Thursday.

In reaching the 2010 Australian Open final, Murray defeated Kevin Anderson, Marc Gicquel, Florent Serra, John Isner and then world number two Rafael Nadal. He didn’t drop a single set until he lost the first against Cilic in the semi-finals.

Murray’s head-to-head record against potential final opponent is in the Scot’s favour, having won two of their three encounters. Against Federer, Murray also comes out on top, having won six of their ten matches.