Game-by-game report

Wimbledon 2009: Andy Murray v Stanislas Wawrinka - as it happened

Andy Murray eventually triumphed over five sets, winning 2–6, 6–3, 6–3, 5–7, 6–3 in the latest ever finish at Wimbledon
GUARDIAN OH-I-SAY-O-METER®: Tired gag now with added Jeremy Bates!

Everyone's been harping on about what a sorry state British tennis is in, but compare our hopes for this week with the bleak terrain of the early 1990s. Back then, Jeremy Bates reaching the fourth round - a Brit in the second week!!! - was considered an outstanding achievement. When he earned one match point against Guy Forget in 1992, and flunked it, Bates was compared favourably to Odysseus. And now look: the genuinely world-class Andy Murray is seeded to reach the final, but even if the poor bugger beats Roger Federer 6-0 6-0 6-0 in it, without dropping a point, everyone will probably moan about him not smiling enough, or having the audacity to come from Scotland. State of us, grown adults and all.

The second week of Wimbledon, though! This is tennis!

Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka should be out on court at, give or take half an hour either way: 5pm British Summer Time.
Game-by-game report intensity: 1mph Scotty Summer Speed. (It's hot in London today.)

4.45pm: No way is Murray getting on for another hour at least. Amelie Mauresmo is a set up against Dinara Safina, but the Russian is a break up in the second set, so as things stand that match is going to three sets. What's more, rain is spotting over Wimbledon, and for the first time the fancy new roof is being closed over Centre Court. It'll be half an hour before play restarts. A 6pm start for Murray if he's lucky.

5pm: Incidentally, the Mauresmo-Safina match will now be completed under cover whatever the weather. They don't take the roof back off mid-match if it stops raining. But they might whip it back off between matches if the weather's looking good for the rest of the day. So Murray's not guaranteed to be playing under the roof. My prediction is this: they'll take the roof off for the Murray match, then be forced to put it back on again at some point, wasting 30-40 minutes of all our lives, minutes we'll never see again. Thank you, my Wimbledon!

5.45pm: They've started again, as you will know full well if you're following Barney o'the Blog. And now it's 1-1 in sets, so Murray will still be a while. But I tell you what, the treble-heavy echo inside Centre Court is highly irritating, Wimbledon now boasting all the sexy ambience of your average provincial leisure centre. It's bringing me back to five-a-side matches with old work colleagues in Basingstoke Sports Centre: the sound of trainers squeaking, the ball bouncing off the walls, my boss's face scraping across the shiny floor as my friend, viewing the games as payback for time spent under his yoke, regularly scythed him down with outrageously late and transparently aggressive tackles. Salad days, I'll grant you. But Wimbledon should be transporting me somewhere more magical than that.

6.20pm: Safina has beaten Mauresmo 4-6 6-3 6-4 to reach the quarter finals at Wimbledon for the first time - after being 3-0 down in that final set, too. Murray and Wawrinka will be on in a few minutes. Are they going to take this bloody roof off?

6.30pm: The roof will stay closed for Murray v Wawrinka. "I doubt the British public will even remember Murray is Scottish if he ever wins Wimbledon," argues Andrew Banks. "I predict OBEs, more function invites than he can handle, a parade in Trafalgar Square, a paralytic meeting with the Prime Minister... we'll have ruined his fitness and sense of perspective so much after all that, he'll never win another tennis match. Then we can get on again with whinging about the state of English cricket British tennis, we're much happier that way." It's difficult to argue with the immutable Flintoff Law of British Success.

6.35pm: The players are out. And, as they knock up, so begins the first-ever men's game under the roof at Wimbledon. This, according to the BBC, is HISTORY. My take on it is that it's a quiz question at best, and not a particularly difficult one. Play your joker.

6.40pm: The umpire calls time on the knock-up, and the match we've been waiting for all day is about to begin. Murray will serve in the first game, and as he gets up from his seat the roof doesn't come off Centre Court. But the cheering is very loud. Meanwhile, Mac Millings has been staring at the picture of Jeremy Bates ever since it went up on this site at 2.05pm earlier this afternoon. "1992!" he finally blurts out. "The memories come flooding back - the 'Blaster Bates' headlines, Eldorado, Ebeneezer Goode, and the first year since '81 that there was no Ivan Lendl in a Grand Slam final." Speaking of Lendl, Mac is too humble to put forward an excellent piece he's written about the Czech maestro, so allow me to... oh alright, he's been banging on about it himself. "By coincidence, there's an overrated (by me) article about the underrated (by almost everyone else) Lendl here." It's well worth a read, though.

First set: Murray* 0-1 Wawrinka. A terrible start by Murray: he doesn't get any first serves in on the first three points, the Swiss winning them all as he attacks that super slow-mo second serve of Murray's, without doubt his Achilles heel. Murray digs in to save three break points and battle back to deuce, but he then stiffs an easy forehand into the net and Wawrinka makes no mistake with his fourth break point. A beautiful backhand down the line from Wawrinka, B to H on the OH-I-SAY-O-METER®, is the highlight of the game, good enough to put a 27-shot rally won by Murray in the shade.

First set: Murray 0-2 Wawrinka*. Repeated slices over the net to the backhand, a tactic that did for Viktor Troicki at the weekend, is paying no dividend yet for Murray. He was 0-30 up in this game, but Wawrinka holds his nerve - and his serve - by belting the ball back at Murray hard. Centre Court is almost totally silent. It's almost as if the echo is making the crowd shy of shouting. That's not going to do Murray any favours.

First set: Murray* 0-3 Wawrinka. This is a disastrous start for Murray, who is now a double break down. He's walloping just about every shot way too hard in an attempt to match Wawrinka's power, the ball sailing miles past the baseline. Some court-side blether from my colleague Barney Ronay: "Wawrinka was going berserk before that first game. Kept jiggering about and running up and down while Murray just sat there drinking Lucozade. He was pumped. By the way the roof seems like no real big deal after all that. Reminds me very much of Luton Airport."

First set: Murray 0-4 Wawrinka*. Murray is muttering to himself, letting his head hang, occasionally shouting at his racquet, and - worst of all - shanking simple forehands into the net. One loose shot at the net even flies into the net post. Wawrinka tries to help him out as only a good friend would, with two ludicrous double faults in a row at 40-30 to hand Murray a break point, but his opponent doesn't take advantage. Oh for the halycon days of Jeremy Bates.

First set: Murray* 1-4 Wawrinka. Murray is 15-30 down but crashes down a huge serve to win the point, then serves out the game with ease. "Help me out here," writes our American pal Melissa Forbis. "When in sport is British British and when is it not?" Wait for a Murray defeat, the fallout will explain all. Anyway, our man is still hanging on by his fingertips in this set, so here's to British Scottish tennis!

First set: Murray 1-5 Wawrinka*. Murray isn't getting anywhere near Wawrinka's serve at all. When he does get them back in play, he's forced to stand and watch a backhand whistle past his lugs. One here, down the line, G to A, would have been unstoppable even if Murray had got his racquet to it. "It seems that the super-duper-aren't-we-clever-tastic roof of 20 minutes ago has now become the I-say-this-is-all-the-bally-roof's-fault roof on the Beeb," notes Claire MacKenzie, who knows how these things work.

First set: Murray* 2-5 Wawrinka. Murray goes 40-0 up, mixing his serves to the forehand and the backhand. Wawrinka's drop shot puts a brief stop to the Murray gallop, but a big serve secures the game. The atmosphere in Centre Court under this roof is incredibly poor, though Murray's playing so badly at the moment it wouldn't be fair to pass judgement on the fancy lid quite yet.

First set: Murray 2-6 Wawrinka*. Wawrinka serves big, Murray responds tamely. Murray is being totally outplayed here, the set going down the swannee in 34 minutes. Unless he gets his chops up and quick, this could be a real anti-climax. "Does starting to look ahead to the U21s final constitute throwing in the towel already?" wonders Ian Copestake. Yep. But this is Britain, this is what we do.

Second set: Murray* 1-0 Wawrinka; Wawrinka leads 1-0 in sets. The highlight of this game is yet another fizzing Wawrinka backhand, D to G, but Murray's first serve stands up well for the first time in the match, and the game is won without fuss. Barney Ronay notes that there are some right sorts sitting around Centre Court at the moment. "A woman behind me keeps yelling THASSMAWLIKEITTHASSMAWLIKEIT!! whenever Murray wins a point. And someone keeps calling out 'go on Tim!' - and people keep laughing." As has been suggested before, THE NEXT PERSON TO SHOUT "COME ON TIM" IN THE MISGUIDED NOTION THAT IT IS IN ANY WAY AMUSING SHOULD - NO, NOT SHOULD, MUST - BE DRAGGED ONTO THE COURT AND VIOLATED WITH A BOTTLE OF ROBINSON'S BARLEY WATER.

Second set: Murray 1-1 Wawrinka*; Wawrinka leads 1-0 in sets. Murray's first shot of real class, a beautiful drop shot just over the net from the back of the court, wins a point, but it's a futile gesture. Wawrinka's serve is booming, and Murray has no answer.

Second set: Murray* 2-1 Wawrinka; Wawrinka leads 1-0 in sets. Well, Murray hasn't lost a service game since that godawful beginning: in the first set, his first service averages were around 40%; now they're up to the 70% mark. He's still not looking quite as comfortable on his serve than Wawrinka is on his own, though. Having said that, Murray wins his most spectacular point of the match so far, a whipped forehand C to F on the OH-I-SAY-O-METER® as he rushes to the net to close down what looked like a Wawrinka drop-shot winner. And finally some volume from the crowd.

Second set: Murray 2-2 Wawrinka*; Wawrinka leads 1-0 in sets. Murray's body language is much better now, though Baldrick from Blackadder has been seen to stand prouder and taller than the abject figure of the first set. He's beginning to put some venom into his shots, fighting fire with fire, and using his own big forehand to move Wawrinka around the court. He goes 0-30 up, but Wawrinka holds firm and starts booming some big forehands back into the corners, sending Murray scooting all over the shop. He soon wraps up a game he momentarily looked like losing.

Second set: Murray* 3-2 Wawrinka; Wawrinka leads 1-0 in sets. Having reported Murray's improved body language, a double fault at 15-15 sends his shoulders heading for the floor. Wawrinka then whips the mother of all backhands to the corner of Murray's deuce court, advances to the net, and dispatches the return with ease. Shambolic stuff by Murray - but then he manages to save both of the resulting break points, then secure the game with a MAMMOTH forehand, H to C, when it looked almost impossible to even reach Wawrinka's backhand to the corner. Still, on the whole this is far from impressive - i.e. it is not impressive. "My Playhouse Disney-obsessed daughter just perked up when she thought she heard us say we were turning the TV on to watch Handy Manny," reports Lee Kelly. "So far, she's not convinced Handy Murray is any substitute." I don't blame her. Maybe Pat the not-very-intelligent hammer could pop down to SW19 and work over Wawrinka's collection of racquets? Or collection of knuckles? For it's difficult to see how else Murray is going to defeat his opponent at the moment.

Second set: Murray 3-3 Wawrinka*; Wawrinka leads 1-0 in sets. Murray is attempting to mix it up, but there is simply no answer for the excellent Wawrinka, who smashes one of the most delicious forehands in the history of All Tennis down the sideline of Murray's deuce court. In other news, the biggest celebrity in the crowd, apart from The Guardian's Barney Ronay, of course, appears to be Ewan McGregor, star of this...

At least I think that's Ewan McGregor...

Second set: Murray* 4-3 Wawrinka; Wawrinka leads 1-0 in sets. A Classic Wimbledon Game® from Murray here: big first serves, and one particularly gorgeous serve-and-volley point. And a potential lifeline for Murray: news is that Wawrinka has asked the umpire for the trainer, as he's got a slight leg strain. Grasping at straws, yes, but we're British: this is how we roll.

Second set: Murray 5-3 Wawrinka*; Wawrinka leads 1-0 in sets. To be honest there doesn't appear to be much wrong with Wawrinka. After a quick rub of the thigh, he's up and scooting around at speed. A whipcracking forehand by Murray, sent whistling from the corner of his deuce court through Wawrinka's right-hand service box - H to C on the OH-I-SAY-O-METER® - is the highlight of this game. Though another similar stroke from the home favourite, at the end of a long rally which saw him finally send back one of those huge Wawrinka backhands, brings a louder cheer. All his efforts are worthwhile, too, as the Wawrinka finally makes a mistake, hitting a forehand long on Murray's second break point. That was an immense game to win, a fact illustrated (in a soundscape, that is) by Murray's blood-curdling COME OOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNN.

Second set: Murray* 6-3 Wawrinka; set score 1-1. And suddenly everything changes: how big were those two saved break points at 2-2? Murray pings down three big serves to earn himself three set points, then an ace to - very nearly - take the roof off Centre Court. This place was quiet as hell earlier; now... dear Lord. "It's definitely louder," adds Barney Ronay, "Those crowd yelping moments are now slightly painful on the ears."

Third set: Murray 0-1 Wawrinka*; set score 1-1. Wawrinka isn't crumbling, despite that setback, though now Murray seems more prepared to go toe-to-toe with his big hitting. Wawrinka is still bothering Murray, mixing it up with forehands to this corner, backhands to that, but his opponent looks much more confident now. Longer rallies are developing on the Wawrinka serve, and that wasn't happening earlier.

Third set: Murray* 1-1 Wawrinka; set score 1-1. Wawrinka - who's had the trainer on again, by the way - isn't looking so dangerous on the Murray serve at the moment. This particular game is a complete non-event.

Third set: Murray 1-2 Wawrinka*; set score 1-1. Murray wins one point with a simply outrageous lob over the giant Wawrinka, who despite standing in the middle of his court, can't reach an absurdly looping ball that lands plum on the baseline. The game goes to deuce, but Wawrinka sends it heading his way by crashing an outrageous backhand - OH-I-SAY-O-METER® B to G - then a wrongfooting forehand through Murray's advantage court.

Third set: Murray* 2-2 Wawrinka; set score 1-1. Murray hits his third ace. Then his second double fault. He struggles through a game which goes to deuce, but once again can boast the highlight: a spectacular deep forehand to the deuce-court corner to win a long rally at 30-30. Wawrinka is far from rocking - you would have to say that, overall, he's still been the better player - but he's not quite looking the unstoppable force of the first one-and-a-half sets. This one is officially in the balance.

Third set: Murray 2-3 Wawrinka*; set score 1-1. Wawrinka almost rocks here, though: his first serves to the deuce court are far too long, giving Murray the chance to crash back a couple of big returns. But at 15-30 up, Murray stiffs a simple forehand into the net; Wawrinka serves the game out.

Third set: Murray* 3-3 Wawrinka; set score 1-1. One of the most peachy shots of the championship from Murray right at the start of this game, as Wawrinka smashes a cross-court volley right to the outside corner of Murray's left-hand service box. Somehow, Murray, running at full pelt, reaches round the ball and whips a stunning winner - GUARDIAN OH-I-SAY-O-METER® G to D - just over the net. Outstanding. But Wawrinka wins a lucky net cord, which gives him succour: pelting back a couple of weak Murray second serves, he earns himself a break point. It's not converted, though, and despite Wawrinka earning another two break points in a game that goes to four deuces, Murray holds on. Murray can't keep going like this, though.

Third set: Murray 4-3 Wawrinka*; set score 1-1. The nerves are kicking in, or tiredness, or both, but neither man is looking confident on their serve at the moment. The first-serve averages must be piss-poor. Again Murray goes 0-30 up on Wawrinka's serve - but this time he goes 0-40 up to earn three break points, after crashing a wonderful return (H to C) back over the net. He can't convert the first, but the second wins the game, as he fizzes a forehand straight into Wawrinka's body, the Swiss unable to keep his return in court. Murray breaks! And so he emits another blood curdler - CCCCCAAAAAAAHHHHHHMMMMMM (he doesn't bother with an ON, elongated or not - as Wawrinka smashes his racket to the ground in frustration.

Third set: Murray* 5-3 Wawrinka; set score 1-1. A couple of really big first serves do the trick for Murray here. This is as fuss-free as it's got all game. Murray's serving hasn't really cut the mustard today; he'll still have to improve if he wants to see this game out, never mind win this tournament.

Third set: Murray 6-3 Wawrinka*; Murray leads 2-1 in sets. Wawrinka's first serve falls to bits, and his second can't hold up to any sort of scrutiny. Murray wallops some returns back over the net, and the big Swiss player either booms them long, wide, or hopelessly into the net. That's the second set decided, a set which crumbled away from Wawrinka like a cake left out in the rain (oh no nooooooooooo).

Fourth set: Murray* 1-0 Wawrinka; Murray leads 2-1 in sets. Both players go off for water-closet action. Then Murray comes on and puts away his service game with ease. Breaking Wawrinka for the second time in that third set may prove a great psychological advantage.

Fourth set: Murray 1-1 Wawrinka*; Murray leads 2-1 in sets. This is almost a complete capitulation by Wawrinka, who zips to a 40-0 lead but is quickly pegged back to deuce, one whipped Murray forehand on the run - GUARDIAN OH-I-SAY-O-METER® C to F - a particular delight. After three deuces Wawrinka eventually clings onto the game, but only because Murray stiffs a couple of lazy forehands into the net.

Fourth set: Murray* 2-1 Wawrinka; Murray leads 2-1 in sets. Murray doesn't look in any trouble on his service games now, mainly because Wawrinka looks to be blowing hard between points, while the superfit Murray is keeping things going at a right old lick. "How come no one has already used your photo of Jeremy Bates' jumper as conclusive proof of climate change?" asks Chris B. Because of the roof?

Fourth set: Murray 2-2 Wawrinka*; Murray leads 2-1 in sets. Wawrinka spends what seems like hours fannying around between points. He loses a couple of them with lazy slices into the net, but does enough to secure the game. He's beginning to look pretty tired, though.

Fourth set: Murray* 3-2 Wawrinka; Murray leads 2-1 in sets. Wawrinka, who was all over Murray in the first set, whacking unreturnable backhands into the corners, looked a broken man during this game. Murray holds it to love, Wawrinka offering nothing, scampering after the ball like an old dog who somehow knows the special injection is only days away.

Fourth set: Murray 3-3 Wawrinka*; Murray leads 2-1 in sets. But will Wawrinka be able to find a second wind? Because this is a solid service game, the first one he totally bosses in a while. He sends a couple of crashing forehands down the lines, to which Murray has no answer, and the game's won to love.

Fourth set: Murray* 4-3 Wawrinka; Murray leads 2-1 in sets. And suddenly Wawrinka looks dangerous again. Murray finds himself 0-30 and 30-40 down, the Swiss earning his 11th break point of the match. Eleven! He's only converted two, though - those games right at the start of proceedings - and he can't add to that total, Murray winning a long, tense rally on break point with Wawrinka ballooning a backhand long. On the second deuce, Murray benefits from a spawny net cord during another long exchange, enabling him to crash a volley home - and he manages to hold out.

Fourth set: Murray 4-4 Wawrinka*; Murray leads 2-1 in sets. After the last game, the BBC camera lingers - in super slow-motion - on a buxom blonde jumping up and down in a low-cut top. Please! This isn't France! This isn't the French Open! Anyway, Murray manages to get involved in a couple of lengthy rallies on the Wawrinka serve, winning one, losing another by millimetres down the line - OH-I-SAY-O-METER® G to not-quite-A - then hoicking a volley into the net before firing an exquisite cross-court pass on the run, H to C. The game goes to three deuces before Wawrinka can hold on. Despite both men rocking on their serves, there have been no breaks in this set yet.

Fourth set: Murray* 5-4 Wawrinka; Murray leads 2-1 in sets. Again Murray struggles on his serve, going 15-30 down and 30-40 down, both times slicing forehands out of play down the right-hand sideline. But what a shot on Wawrinka's break point, opening his body and sending a super-precise forehand onto the right-hand sideline at speed - OH-I-SAY-O-METER® G to D - with not a pixel to spare. Staunch stuff from Murray, who serves out and is now one game from the quarter finals.

Fourth set: Murray 5-5 Wawrinka*; Murray leads 2-1 in sets. Wawrinka serves to stay in the match and does so without drama, holding to 15, though Murray does raise a cheer with a preposterous forehand down the line, A to G. It's 9.41pm, by the way, and this match has now passed the latest-ever finish at Wimbledon - 9.35pm in a 1981 doubles match involving Sue Barker. I'd just like to take this opportunity to say how honoured I am to be covering it, when I could be in the pub, or on a train going home.

Fourth set: Murray* 5-6 Wawrinka; Murray leads 2-1 in sets. Another struggle on serve for Murray - and it's a struggle too far. At 0-15 down and on his weak second serve, Murray comes up with a great forehand winner, sending it fizzing through the advantage court. At 15-30 down he gambles his last Hawkeye challenge on a second-serve out call - and it's found to be just in. Just! The point's replayed and, instead of going two break points down at 15-40, the score's 30-30. It looks like a turning point in Murray's favour, but Wawrinka clings on and the game goes to deuce - whereupon Murray's first serve falls apart, and he dumps break point into the net. "Murray looks absolutely knackered, and has done since sometime in the second set," suggests Jim Denvir. "Granted, this is proving to be a tough game, but it's only the beginning of the second week and he's only dropped one set prior to this. This doesn't bode well, even if he does come through today."

Fourth set: Murray 5-7 Wawrinka*; set score 2-2. At 30-30, Murray returns ludicrously, somehow getting a ball which had kicked wide right of court back over the net - but his opponent is at the net to head him off at the pass. Wawrinka wallops down a big ace to claim the set, level the match, and take us the distance. That is some turnaround by Wawrinka, who looked absolutely spent at the start of that set. By the way, this will be played out to a finish, the roof being fitted with lots of lovely lights.

Fifth set: Murray* 1-0 Wawrinka; set score 2-2. How these players can keep going, I'll never know. I'm knackered, and I'm just sitting plonked on ma harris. Wawrinka tries a bit of psychology at the start of this deciding set, sprinting from his chair to start the game, but Murray comes out flying himself, the highlight of a fairly solid game being his delicious drop shot over the net. Nevertheless, Gary Naylor is predicting misery for Murray: "He's going out. He's making shots, but too many errors, and they will only increase. Still not fit enough - will he ever be?"

Fifth set: Murray 2-0 Wawrinka*; set score 2-2. This is an amazing break by Murray. Wawrinka starts the game with a couple of blistering backhands and as his 13th ace of the match to go 40-0 up, but amazingly lets it slip to deuce. Then there are rallies during which Murray is happy to sit on the baseline until mistakes are made: Wawrinka cracks, one into the net, another ballooned out of play, and the home favourite is a break up in the final set!

Fifth set: Murray* 3-0 Wawrinka; set score 2-2. Just a fantastic point to win this game here, Wawrinka lobbing Murray, G to B, at 40-30 - then watching in horror as Murray makes it to the corner, spins through 180 degrees, and whips a double-handed forehand down the line. Wawrinka gets his racquet to it, but can only deflect it back into the net. "Please tell Gary Naylor he can kiss ma swingers!" writes Colin Huxtable, perhaps speaking for a nation. To be honest, I'm surprised that email's taken this long, and not just in the context of this set, either.

Fifth set: Murray 3-1 Wawrinka*; set score 2-2. Murray belts down a power bar at the break. And what a power bar! Wawrinka goes 40-0 up on his serve again - and is once again pegged back to deuce! This time, the big Swiss is sent reeling by two ludicrous cross-court winners - H to C then H to A - but this time he manages to recover from the blow of losing a 40-0 lead, banging down two huge aces. This really is tennis.

Fifth set: Murray* 3-2 Wawrinka; set score 2-2. Now it's Murray's time to shake on his serve again. At 30-30 he misses a forehand up the line - and is punished as Wawrinka whips a return, A to F, to break back. Murray reacts to this disaster by grimacing and hammering a ball high into the air. Wawrinka keeps on coming back at him! Meanwhile, disgraceful scenes are unfolding in Asia. "If you get a chance," reports Peter Simpson, "please ask the Japanese TV folk why they stopped broadcasting the game at 6.00am local time to show CSI Miami, or whatever it's called. Who gets up at 6.00am to watch that, and who goes to bed at 5.59am after watching four sets of a tennis match?" The same sort of people who have left Centre Court? There are, amazingly, a few empty seats. Though not too many, it has to be said.

Fifth set: Murray 3-3 Wawrinka*; set score 2-2. Big booming serves are too much for Murray, who is looking a tad knackered. With this in mind, Gary Naylor comes right back at Colin Huxtable, Wawrinka-style: "Please tell Mr Huxtable that I'm a big fan of Murray, but he doesn't look fit enough to avoid the errors that creep into anyone's game in the fifth set. Borg had it, Boris had it, Edberg had it but I'm not sure Murray does. As I write, he has given up his break and McEnroe is saying that Murray is tired - he's 22 FFS."

Fifth set: Murray* 4-3 Wawrinka; set score 2-2. After seriously reeling during the last two games, Murray shows his bottle. He goes 40-0 up with ease, lets a couple of points slip, but keeps his patience during a long and nervy baseline rally, waiting for Wawrinka to finally lump a forehand way too deep. This is tense as hell.

Fifth set: Murray 5-3 Wawrinka*; set score 2-2. Murray uses his head at the start of this game, making Wawrinka scamper right and left along the baseline, totally bossing the first point. Then a simply outrageous lob by Murray - H to somewhere between C and A, right on the line - with the giant Swiss stranded at the net gives him a 0-30 lead. Wawrinka blazes back into the game with a lovely passing shot through Murray's deuce court, then a huge ace - before missing an easy volley at the net to give Murray a break point! That's saved, but after three deuces Murray wraps up a Homeric game by returning a HUGE Wawrinka serve, then creaming a forehand down the right-hand sideline, H to B. He'll be serving for a place in the quarter finals. "It's unsurprising that they're looking tired," writes Nath Jones. "Footballers look tired at the end of extra-time, and that's only an increase from their usual 90mins to 120mins. Murray and Wawrinka are used to playing best-of-three, 90-120 mins, and they've already played 220 mins with maybe half-hour still to go."

Fifth set: Murray* 6-3 Wawrinka. MURRAY WINS AN EPIC ENCOUNTER 3-2!!! At 30-15, Murray looks to have hit one long, mid-rally, just before Wawrinka blasts one out of play. The Swiss challenges - and the cheer which erupts upon the ball being found to be IN is IMMENSE. Murray has a match point, and whips a huge forehand down the line to secure his place in the quarter finals. "I can confirm that the Japanese have something in common with the Germans," writes Andrew Hammett. "Here in Frankfurt coverage also finished at the end of the fourth set, to be replaced with dubious advertising for telephone 'services'."

Murray falls to his knees, having somehow come through a huge test. "Stan played a great match," he says. "When you've got 15,000 people supporting you, it's pretty special," he adds, to a tumult of noise. I think Wimbledon might finally have fallen in love with him. He'll face Juan Carlos Ferraro in the quarters - and with that news I'll bid you goodnight. See you tomorrow for the live blog from Wimbledon at midday - but don't be surprised if I'm a wee bit late, so cut me some slack, eh?

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