The man simply does not know when he is beaten.
For the second match in a row, Andy Murray produced a stirring, brilliant performance as he extended his Wimbledon run to at least the third round.
Trailing two sets to one to Oscar Otte, a German qualifier ranked No 151, Murray raised his game one more time to clinch a dramatic 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
By the time the match was finished, the crowd on Centre Court were screaming out his name, with Murray feeding off their energy all the way to the line, his metal hip surely pushed to the absolute limit.
For a set and a half, it seemed as if he was set for a straightforward win, a break of serve in the sixth game sending him on his way to the first set. The first serve was working well, the groundstrokes clicking and Otte, on his first appearance on Centre Court, looked out of his depth.
Murray extended his lead in the second set, breaking on his way to a 3-1 lead but Otte had other ideas. The German began to attack the Murray second serve, thumping winners from all corners and it worked. He broke again to lead 4-3 and held on to level the match.
Murray stayed on terms to 3-3 in the third set but Otte broke for 4-3. As Murray’s concentration wavered, the famous Murray chuntering began in earnest. “Belter”, he yelled out several times. “Practice”, he screamed, before sitting on his chair at one change of ends and shouting out: “Sue me”.
Otte took the third set but at 2-2 in the fourth, the tournament referee came onto court to inform the players that the roof would be closed because of darkness, which meant a 15-minute break.
In his first-round win over the No 24 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili, the roof closing had been in the catalyst for him to close out the match and again, the momentum swung his way as he broke in the sixth game and extended his lead to 5-2. “Andy, Andy, Andy,” sang the crowd.
Otte would not lie down and after holding serve he broke Murray again to get back on terms. But Murray raised himself again and after forcing two set points, he crunched a backhand winner to take it into a decider. “Let’s go, now,” he yelled to his box.
As the players sat down at the change of ends, the crowd sang: “We love you, Andy, we do” and Murray responded, breaking for 2-0 with a brilliant drop shot, the tactic proving more and more effective as the match went on.
Murray then came through an epic service game to consolidate the break. Otte dug in to hold serve in the fourth game but Murray moved ahead again, 4-1. At 4-2, Murray was under pressure at 30-30 but flashed a forehand pass that was straight out of 2013 and won another long game to hold for 5-2, knifing a backhand down the line before producing two lobs from another world to clinch victory.
Murray’s reward, if his body can recover in time, will be a third-round meeting against the No 10 seed Denis Shapovalov, the Canadian, who enjoyed a walkover into the last 32 when Pablo Andujar withdrew through injury before their second-round match.
Earlier in the day, Novak Djokovic, the defending champion and five-time winner, had more trouble standing up on the slick grass than he did in beating Kevin Anderson, the world No 1 offering up a masterclass to see off the South African 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Djokovic had the crowd on his side throughout and had them in the palm of hands afterwards, too. “I seemed to be having a really nice connection with the grass,” he said, with a smile. “I can’t recall falling this many times in the first two matches at Wimbledon. But I had a nice connection.”
That other great entertainer, Nick Kyrgios, will be sticking around for a few days, too, the Australian finishing off his match with No 21 seed Ugo Humbert 9-7 in the final set, having been held over at 3-3 the previous night.
Kyrgios, who has not played since the Australian Open, will also be playing in the mixed doubles here, with Venus Williams, a combination that is sure to attract plenty of attention.
“She's an absolute legend of the sport,” Kyrgios said. “I'm super excited. I can tell she's excited, too. I don't think she ever thought back in the day she'd be playing mixed doubles with the bad boy of tennis, so we'll see how it goes.”
The 41-year-old Williams, though, saw her interest in the singles ended by Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, the American bowing out 7-5, 6-0. Like sister Serena, who retired through injury on Tuesday, it remains to be seen if she will be back.
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