Andy Murray heroics stun Wimbledon fans after 'horrible' scenes

Andy Murray has defied his age, a metal hip and an awful slip against Stefanos Tsitsipas to take a two-sets-to-one lead against the World No.5, before Wimbledon's 11pm curfew curtailed his charge. The 36-year-old will take the ascendancy when his match against the Greek star resumes on Friday at the All England Club, as the backlog of matches continues to pile up for organisers.

Murray lost the first set of a high quality contest but roared back to lead 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 when the Centre Court duel was halted just before the 11pm curfew. That saw jeers ringing out from a parochial home crowd who wanted to keep watching the latest chapter in Murray's extraordinary career.

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The Brit looked to be in serious trouble when serving for the third set when he was caught off balance and slipped on the grass, letting out a chilling scream as he clutched at his left groin and crumpled to the ground in agony. To the astonishment of the Centre Court faithful and millions watching around the world, the 36-year-old warhorse picked himself back up off the floor to finish the job.

Riding the wave of support from home fans, the local hero almost blew the roof off Centre Court after serving out the set to take a decisive lead against Tsitsipas. The incredible scenes sent social media into meltdown as fans hailed Murray's legendary fighting spirit after such a nasty incident.

Andy Murray heroics leave fans in awe

Casper Ruud in shock loss as Aussie trio win through

Home fans were already delirious after another local hope, Liam Broady, caused the tournament's biggest shock after knocking out men's fourth seed Casper Ruud in a five-set thriller. Ruud, who was in the French Open final three weeks ago, lost 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-0 to the World No.142 in three hours, 27 minutes.

Aussies Alex de Minaur, Chris O'Connell and Jason Kubler ovecame nerves and long, rain-hit matches to keep the nation's flag flying at SW19. Aleksandar Vukic's loss left Australia's hopes in tatters but in the space of one hour, a trio of his compatriots made it through to the next round.

Australian No.1 de Minaur led the way after seeing off qualifier Kimmer Coppejans 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-3 7-6 (7-2), having resumed the match two sets to one up. O'Connell, playing for the third straight day, finally completed his 7-5 6-4 4-6 6-4 win after starting the day two sets up against Hamad Medjedovic. While Kubler, two sets to one up overnight, finally repelled a fightback from French southpaw Ugo Humbert to win 6-4 4-6 6-2 3-6 6-3.

Three-time grand slam winner Stan Wawrinka turned back the clock after defeating seeded Argentine Tomas Etcheverry to set up a first grass-court meeting with Novak Djokovic. The 38-year-old defeated the No.29 seed, 15 years his junior, in four sets to book a spot in the third round for the first time in three years.

A trio of Italians won, though one knocked out a compatriot. Eighth seed Jannik Sinner coasted into the third round with a 7-5 6-1 6-2 victory over Diego Schwartzman, while Lorenzo Musetti, seeded 14, outclassed Spain's Jaume Munar 6-4 6-3 6-1 to set up a third-round clash against Poland's Hubert Hurkacz.

Matteo Berrettini, the 2021 runner-up, recovered from a slow start to beat Lorenzo Sonego 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 in a match which had begun on Tuesday. Alexander Zverev, who finally got a chance to play his first-round match on the fourth day of the tournament, moved into the second round with a 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) victory over Dutchman Gijs Brouwer.

Russian seventh seed Andrey Rublev and American tenth seed Frances Tiafoe advanced to the third round but ninth seed Taylor Fritz lost to Sweden's Mikael Ymer.

with agencies

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