ndy Murray had hoped the late nights and long matches were a thing of the past.
But 15,000 inside Centre Court creating a cacophony with the roof closed revelled as Murray rolled back the years at the age of 36 against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The outcome remains undecided, the match halted at 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 to Murray’s advantage much to the chagrin of those that hoped the curfew could be ignored.
Before that point, it had everything from the Murray playbook. After losing a tight first set, there were remonstrations and recriminations towards his box.
Then there was the fightback, the scampering for every shot and even the late drama as he slipped and fell late into the third set.
He let out a scream which chillingly reverberated around the stadium and clutched his groin, those delighting in the previous three sets looking on anxiously.
In true Murray fashion, he then looked fine, won the final point of the night, the set and time was called for the night.
It was captivating stuff from the very outset. Tsitsipas played near-perfect tennis for much of the first two sets, striking the ball so cleanly with his forehand that it seemed remarkble Murray somehow hung on to his coattails.
Tsitsipas thought he’d won the first set when the ball was wrongly given in, Murray challenged it and the point was overturned. It led to a shout of “let’s go”.
Hopes that it could give him the necessary lift in the tiebreak proved unfounded as Tsitsipas got the first mini-break and had the upper hand to take the set with an 18-shot rally after 58 minutes.
The fact the Greek had hit 21 winners to Murray’s 11 was perhaps the tale of that set with the Scot hitting just four unforced errors.
That dropped set briefly deflated or at least quietened those in the stands as Murray bid to become only the eighth player in history to win 200 grand slam singles matches.
In that second set, Tsitsipas didn’t drop his guard, the Murray chuntering increasingly crept in and, with it, the usual self-flagellation, particularly when he missed out a half-chance and Tsitsipas levelled for 4-4.
But as the set wore on, the first odd error seemed to creep in from Tsitsipas: a skewed backhand or a forehand too long. He twice found himself at 30-30 on serve but held on to force a second tiebreak, which his opponent this time dominated.
A forehand into the net gave Murray the first mini break, a similar shot enabling him to go 5-2 up. When he converted the first of four set points, the crowd where on their feet as Murray roared at them.
For the first time in the night, Tsitsipas’ level and intensity properly dropped, Murray seeing the opening with his first break point of the night after more than two hours in the opening game of the third set.
He duly took it and, while the rest of the set was as tight as the first two, he held on and just about held his body together to take a two sets to one lead.
The set concluded about 20 minutes before the curfew with the decision sensibly taken to halt play much to the disappointment of those watching.
Murray will return tomorrow on Centre Court, after Carlos Alcaraz takes on Alexandre Muller, to see if he can carry on the momentum while for Tsitsipas it will be a third match in as many days.
