Wimbledon 2012: Primetime Murray beats Baghdatis and clock, into last 16
Andy Murray reached the Wimbledon fourth round on Saturday with a 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: July 01, 2012 03:56 AM IST
Andy Murray reached the Wimbledon fourth round on Saturday with a 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in a match which finished just past the 11:00pm Centre Court curfew.
The fourth seed will face Croatia's Marin Cilic on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals.
But it was a dramatic victory for the Scot who triumphed at 11:02pm (2202 GMT) under the roof on Centre Court, two minutes beyond the deadline set by the local municipality for health and safety reasons.
It was the latest-ever finish at the All England Club.
Murray had broken to lead 5-1 just as the clock hit 11:00pm and was allowed to serve out the match.
"When I got up at 4-1 I tried not to sit down. I don't know what the rules are, maybe the first time that's happened here," he said.
"Tough conditions. I was really struggling. I struck the ball a bit better under the roof and served better."
Murray took the first set 7-5 before Baghdatis, a semi-finalist in 2006, levelled then tie by taking the second 6-3.
Just after 9:00pm (2000 GMT), play was stopped as the roof was closed, a process which took around half an hour.
On the resumption, Baghdatis broke in the third set for a 3-2 lead before Murray survived a nasty-looking fall to level at 4-4.
At 5-5 in the third set, Murray was docked a second point of the match after his spare ball fell from his pocket onto the court during a rally for the third time in the tie.
He shrugged off that setback to take the set and start his race against time to finish the match which he did, but only just, against a physically wilting Baghdatis.
The Scot went to match point with a 10th ace and claimed victory with a swinging forehand.