Murray lights up Wimbledon with titanic win
Andy Murray collapses in relief after overcoming a huge test
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Monday, 29, Jun 2009 10:45
Andy Murray has come through a tense five set battle against Stanislas Wawrinka to reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon.
The Scot got off to a terrible start as he lost the first set, but fought back to take a two sets to one lead.
However, Murray was forced into a fifth set before prevailing 2-6 6-3 6-3 5-7 6-3 in a match which finished under the roof of Centre Court at 10:30pm - the latest ever finish to a Wimbledon match.
Wawrinka has one of the best backhands in the world and showed it off early on as he broke in the opening game of the match.
Home favourite Murray looked completely struck by stage fright as he lost his second service game on his way to falling 4-0 behind. The world number three was in danger of losing the set without winning a game as Wawrinka had break point chances on the next Murray service game, but the Scot held on to get on the board.
It was one of only a few positive points for Murray in the first set as a dominant Wawrinka took the opener 6-2.
Murray finally looked to have settled at the start of the second set and comfortably held on to his serve to take a 2-1 lead.
The young Scot had an opening at 0-30 on the Wawrinka serve, but a poor return from Murray and a crunching forehand and backhand winner from Wawrinka saw him hold on to his serve.
Wawrinka was playing like a man possessed and came up with heavy shots from the back of the court and worked himself two break point chances. Murray though crucially dug deep and a brilliant cross-court forehand winner saw him save the game.
The British number one however was unable to make an impression on the Wawrinka serve as the Swiss number two easily got to 3-3.
It seemed almost unthinkable that Wawrinka could continue to play at the extraordinary level that he was and when the Swiss came up a wild forehand at 40-40 on his serve it looked like his level was dropping.
Murray was unable to take the first break point chance he earned, but crucially broke on his second attempt and had the chance to serve for the set at 5-3. He marched through his service game to level the match.
A galvanised Murray matched Wawrinka stroke for stroke at the start of the second set and had sighters on the Wawrinka serve as he twice got to 40-40, but failed to break.
The critical point of the third set came with Murray serving at 2-3. The 22-year-old was forced to fend-off three break points and then was gifted a break on the Wawrinka serve in the next game as the Swiss came up with three forehand errors.
Murray took a 5-3 lead and Wawrinka now looked completely fed-up as he smashed his racket and then lost his serve to love to hand Murray the third set.
Wawrinka refused to throw in the towel in the fourth set and once again he had the first chance to take control of the set. The world number 19 had a break point chance at 3-3, but once again he failed to convert.
In a similar pattern to sets two and three, it looked like Murray would break in the next game as he worked a break point chance, but this time Wawrinka held on to make the score 4-4.
The break point chances continued to come for Wawrinka, but he was again unable to take them as he wasted one more, which would have seen him go 5-4 up and serve for the set, instead it was Murray who went one game away from winning the match.
Murray had been under so much pressure on his serve throughout the set and finally cracked at 5-5 as Wawrinka finally took a break point - only his third in 12 chances - to take a 6-5 lead. Wawrinka then served out to take the match into a decider.
Instead of getting down about having lost the fourth set, Murray strode out for the decider and carried on trading huge groundstrokes with Wawrinka. The world number three took an important early advantage as he broke Wawrinka to take a 3-0 lead.
The tenacious Wawrinka refused to go away and broke back to get to 2-3. He then held on to his serve to square the final set at 3-3.
It was Wawrinka now who looked to have the upper hand, with Murray looking a little jaded, but the Brit dug deep to take a 4-3 lead. Murray then had a break point after Wawrinka somehow missed when he was on top of the net with the whole court at his mercy, but a tame return from Murray saw the chance vanish.
A second break point chance came for Murray, but a poor forehand into the net saw another chance go by. With the tension now almost unbearable, Murray got a third break point chance and this time he was in no mood to waste it as a pin-point forehand down the line saw him go 5-3 up.
The final game of a memorable match was just nail-biting as the ones which had preceded it, but Murray showed tremendous courage to come through and set up a quarter-final clash against Juan Carlos Ferrero.