With a 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 6-4 lead over Stefanos Tsitsipas, the fifth seed, Andy Murray has put himself in a strong position to pursue his biggest victory of the past six
years. Their Wimbledon second round match was postponed at 10.40 pm because of the All England Club’s 11 pm curfew. On Friday afternoon, Murray and
Tsitsipas will play one more round, with a spot in the final 32 up for grabs.
Tsitsipas came to Wimbledon in unusual condition, while Murray waltzed to two grass-court challenger titles earlier this summer. Seven months into the season,
He has yet to win a title, despite making it to the Australian Open final. His record on grass was much worse; prior to Wimbledon, he had two first-round losses
and a pitiful 1-3 win-loss record.
In the postponed first-round encounter on Wednesday over Dominic Thiem, though, Tsitsipas was given optimism that he had turned the corner. Tsitsipas, who
started in the most intriguing draw for men and defeated Thiem in a thrilling five-set encounter by executing a barrage of excellent volleys when it mattered most to stay alive.
Despite having only faced off twice previously, Murray and Tsitsipas have grown close. Before the fifth set of their first match in the US Open 2021 qualifying
round, Tsitsipas had a long bathroom break. Tsitsipas managed to eke out a victory, and Murray accused the Greek of cheating.
The ATP would tighten its restroom break policies as a result of the events of that evening, and tensions between the two would also increase. However, both
Players emphasized this week that their problems have been fixed.
Murray started the second round with a significant advantage because the first three days of the event schedule were severely disrupted by weather. Tsitsipas did
not finish Thiem in a fifth-set tie-break until almost 8 p.m. on Wednesday, despite the fact that he had barely touched the court in his straightforward first-round
victory over Ryan Peniston, a British wildcard, on Tuesday afternoon. Murray had done his pregame workout session before Tsitsipas and Thiem had even begun
their Wednesday encounter.
On Thursday night, at 7:38 p.m., Murray and Tsitsipas arrived at Centre Court with the roof already in place and a late night planned. Tsitsipas’s chances of
Success was mostly dependent on how effectively he could hide his shortcomings with his serve and forehand because grass courts have a tendency to accentuate them, especially his backhand and serve return.
Tsitsipas played with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm to start the match, serving superbly and attacking the first balls that came after his serve with a
relentless onslaught. He grew more confident in his forehand as the set went on, destroying any ball that dropped short and hitting his go-to stroke with exquisite
technique. Murray just held on to his serve in the later parts of the set, preserving a set point at 5-6 despite making few errors. Tsitsipas was in complete control
and consistently within the baseline by the tiebreak, and his flawless serving and forehands won him the set.
