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Murray beats the Wimbledon curfew, reaches next round

The British number one beat Marcos Baghdatis in four sets.

ANDY MURRAY REACHED the Wimbledon fourth round on Saturday with a 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over Marcos Baghdatis in a match which finished just past the 11:00pm Centre Court curfew.

The fourth seed will face Croatia’s Marin Cilic, who clinched victory over Sam Querrey in the second longest match in tournament history, on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals.

On another day of high drama at the All England Club, three-time finalist Andy Roddick was knocked out, a defeat which sparked more questions over his future in the sport.

Scotsman Murray, asemi-finalist for the last three years, 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 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 after his spare ball fell from his pocket onto the court during a rally for the third time.

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

- © AFP, 2012

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