LONDON — Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Andy Murray in a two-day, five-set match on Centre Court that ended in the second round.
Murray, who is 36 years old, had a two-sets-to-one lead going into Friday’s match. Play had been stopped at 10:39 p.m. on Thursday, 21 minutes before the local council’s ban. But Friday was Tsitsipas’ day. He played some of his best tennis we’ve seen at Wimbledon and beat the three-time Grand Slam winner 7-6 (3), 6-7 (2), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in 4 hours and 40 minutes.
Now, 24-year-old Tsitsipas will play Laslo Djere of Serbia in the third round, likely on Saturday. On Friday, Djere beat No. 32 seed Ben Shelton, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
In an-interview after the match, Tsitsipas stated, “It’s never easy to play against Andy. I know everyone here loves him. It was a tough game, and I’m impressed with how well he keeps up after so many years on the tour and two hip surgeries. I’m happy with his performance today, and I wish him the best.The break didn’t really help that much. You have to deal with a lot of things: Andy Murray, coming up with answers, and being careful about what you choose to do. I know I was playing-someone who returns the balls in. He makes it hard for you, & I had to work extra hard today to win. My legs hurt because he made me run up & down & left & right. It was not easy.”
The match took-place on the 10th anniversary of Murray’s 1st Wimbledon title, & he again had the Centre Court crowd cheering. However, it was Tsitsipas who won, and he said it was a barrier he had to get past.
“It was a little scary,” he said. “I had to get past it. It was a big problem that I had to solve. It’s even harder when you’ve grown up watching him play on this court. When he won the title in 2013, I got goosebumps, and I could tell how much his brave run in 2012 meant to him. He was in the top four for a long time, and I looked up to him, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. They made the game what it is today, and that’s why I’m a professional player.
Play started back up at 4:30 p.m. local time on Friday, and people were worried about how Murray would do after he fell awkwardly while stretching for a shot in the second-to-last point of the night before. As he served the last point of the third set, he fell to the ground and held his left side. He was able to finish the set in the next point, though. When he came back to play Tsitsipas on Friday, there were no signs of the injury scare. However, Tsitsipas had found the same rhythm and accuracy we saw in the first set on Thursday night.
On Thursday night, the game was played under a roof, but on Friday, it was played outside under a clear blue sky with a breeze blowing around the court. In the fourth set, it was so close that it was scary. Murray and Tsitsipas both kept their serves. Tsitsipas’s forehand was on point, and Murray dominated at the net, so a tiebreak was inevitable. But Tsitsipas knew exactly what to do and won the game 7-3, breaking Murray twice along the way.
In the fifth set, the key break of serve happened in the third game. Tsitsipas pushed Murray’s serve back to 0-40. Murray got those two points back, but then he hit a forehand into the net, giving Tsitsipas the key advantage and a break of serve. Even though it was hot, Tsitsipas kept his cool, and Murray fought for every point but couldn’t make Tsitsipas’ serve tense.
After Murray saved two match points, Tsitsipas won the match at 6:16 p.m. on Friday, nearly 23 hours after it all started.
