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Murray wins classic late, late show
Andy Murray rode the dramatic wave of emotion generated under Wimbledon's new roof to make instant history and keep alive his dreams of recording even more next Sunday.
In the latest Wimbledon finish in history, 10.38pm and with the famous hill still packed but in darkness, the Scot needed the assistance of a partisan crowd and some raucous support from mum Judy to defeat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 2-6 6-3 6-3 5-7 6-3.
It was the spectacular dogfight Wimbledon 2009 had been yearning for, three hours and 57 minutes of tension which was validation of the All England Club's decision to spend 100m or so on their new roof.
At the end Murray fell to his knees and admitted: "It's great to have come through. I believe I can win Wimbledon, that has not changed.
"I have to play great tennis to do it and I had to play great tennis to come back last night."
The 22-year-old Scot then went on to criticise Wimbledon's decision to play the match under the roof, which had been put to its first competitive use when showers halted the previous match between Dinara Safina and Amelie Mauresmo.
When Murray took to the court with Wawrinka the weather was dry and the Scot said: "It's tough when you're warming up, getting ready for the match outside and it's dry and then you get told that you're playing under the roof.
"The decision should be made before that match (Safina's) is finished so they can let the players know in a decent amount of time what conditions they are going to be playing under."
At times it looked as if the roof was about to fall in on Murray's quest to become the first Briton to lift the men's singles title in 73 years as Wawrinka played the tennis of his life.
But sheer guts and determination saw him through and the Scot now faces wild card Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarter- finals tomorrow.
It was all the more creditable because Murray could not have started more poorly, losing the opening game on serve and the opening set to a player who belied his world ranking of 18.
Wawrinka's backhand winners were stunning and he pulverised his great pal in that first set.
There were several pivotal moments. First, in the second set when Murray produced a brilliant running forehand to salvage a game he might have lost.
Second, in the sixth game of the third set when Murray saved three break points with crashing winners off both backhand and forehand to gain a crucial momentum swing.
The fourth set was a tense struggle, full of heavy hitting, but it was Wawrinka who dug in to gain the only break in the 11th game.
And so it went to a fifth set in which Murray raced to a 3-0 lead, coming back from 40-love down to break the Wawrinka serve.
But again the Swiss player squared things up and by then they were more like heavyweight boxers out on their feet rather than tennis players
Weary as he was, however, Murray conjured up one last effort to break the Wawrinka serve once more in the eighth game to clinch a famous victory.
Murray said: "At the end it was probably the noisiest crowd I've played in front of. It definitely sounds and feels much louder with the roof – the support was great."
Ends
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Weather for Leeds
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
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Temperature: 0 C to 5 C
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