So there you have it. Having looked like he would saunter to victory after playing a virtually flawless opening two sets, Murray suffered a curious wobble in the third when Seppi received treatment on a calf injury. His solution? A medical timeout of his own that seemed to re-energise the Scot and put him back on the path to victory. It was a bizarre affair, but it ends with Murray going through to the second week, where he will meet Ivo Karlovic in the last 16. Good night and thanks for reading.
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Ella Whelan, you can come out now. Ella was following the match right here – well, peeking out from behind her hands periodically, at any rate – while babysitting. “I was chill until Murray nosedived,” says Ella.
Next up for Murray is Ivo Karlovic, the giant Croatian with a 6ft 11in frame and service to match. “It’ll be a very different match from today,” says Murray. “He’ll be coming into the net a lot and in [his first] two matches he served over 40 aces. I’ll have to return well if I want to come through that one.”
Murray is talking to John Inverdale. Just what you need after a hard match, no? The Scot says his shoulder is fine. Asked about his performance, he says: “I thought I played very well. There was part of the third set where I struggled a bit, but hopefully the way I finished the match is how I can go on.”
Well, what a strange match that was. The trainer seemed to have as much influence as the players, with Seppi seizing the initiative after the first medical timeout and Murray getting back on top after the second. And that hard on the heels of Kvitova’s defeat. What an evening!
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Murray wins the fourth set and the match, 6-2, 6-2, 1-6, 6-1!
Fourth set: Murray* 6-1 Seppi (sets 2-1) Murray can do no wrong! Everything goes his way in this game, including a successful challenge that takes him to 30-0. A beauty of a forehand carries him to two match points, and he then blasts an ace for a winner to seal the match. The crowd goes wild and Murray pumps his fist in jubilation. Murray is through to week two!
Fourth set: Murray 5-1 Seppi* (sets 2-1) About those guys I mentioned earlier, the ones with M-U-R-R-A-Y spelled out across their T-shirts. Well, either one of them has knocked off early or they’re having difficulty spelling their hero’s name. Because what I’m seeing right now is M-U-R-R-Y. Back on court, the only word the object of their affections is interested in spelling is V-I-C-T-O-R-Y. He breaks Seppi to 30 with a wonderful approach that kisses the line, and the arena erupts in delight. Murray to serve for the match!
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Fourth set: Murray* 4-1 Seppi (sets 2-1) Murray’s ebullience has rubbed off on the Centre Court crowd, who are as energised as he is right now. A beauty of a backhand at 40-30 carries him to 4-1, and Murray’s fist pump is mirrored by Bjorkman in the players’ box. Meanwhile, Simon McMahon writes: “I’m one of the Machiavellians, Les. Andy’s got inside his head. He needed something to spark him again. Experience, gamesmanship, call it what you like. 6-1. Have it, Seppi.” And so say Britons everywhere, Simon.
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Fourth set: Murray 3-1 Seppi* (sets 2-1) Nervously, that’s how Seppi responds. A tentative sliced backhand from the Italian drifts into the net, and he then drives an off forehand wide. Murray, meanwhile, is all fist pumps and energy. A big serve gets Seppi a foothold in the game, but Murray twice emerges from long rallies on the right side of the equation. He turns to his box in triumph, and what a relief that’ll be for his coaches, Amelie Mauresemo and Jonas Bjorkman.
Fourth set: Murray* 2-1 Seppi (sets 2-1) Suddenly, Murray is revitalised. He races through that service game, brimming with defiance, grit and no little skill. It’ll be fascinating to see how Seppi responds.
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Fourth set: Murray 1-1 Seppi*(sets 2-1) If you think it’s unlikely that Murray could be thrown off course by an injury to his opponent, cast your mind back to January’s Australian Open final, when the Scot completely lost focus after Novak Djokovic started tottering about the court like a drunkard at closing time. The more significant question is what he has learned from that experience. Plenty, judging from this game. Looking much more like the Murray of the opening two sets, he hangs tough from the baseline and greets a Seppi error at 30-40 with a roar of defiance. We’re back on serve.
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Murray has called for the trainer and is now receiving medical treatment on his right shoulder. Two things could be happening here. Thrown out of his rhythm by the break for Seppi to receive medical attention, Murray may be giving the Italian a taste of his own medicine. That’s a theory for all you Machiavellians out there. The second, and more alarming possibility, is that Murray really is injured, and that his Wimbledon challenge is suddenly in the balance. We’ll know more when the action restarts.
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Fourth set: Murray* 0-1 Seppi (sets 2-1) “Come on, here we go!” cries Murray after a Seppi error brings the score back to 15-15. Clearly the Scot is trying to refresh his mental intensity after the reversal of momentum sparked, seemingly, by that injury timeout. The problem is, this match is no longer just about what Andy Murray does. Seppi, who for two sets couldn’t do a thing to hurt the Scot, is now getting real purchase on his shots. The Italian’s burgeoning belief, eloquently expressed by a big forehand that forces an error from Murray, carries him to a break point at 30-40. The Scot wins a punishing rally to retrieve the situation, and you imagine that might be a turning point. It isn’t. Instead, Murray fires a backhand long and Seppi, offered another chance to draw first blood in this fourth set, blasts a forehand winner to secure the break. Murray, who was previously cruising, hasn’t won a single game since Seppi had his calf treated at 2-1 in the third set.
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Seppi wins the third set 6-1
Third set: Murray 1-6 Seppi* (sets 2-0) At 30-30, Murray races to the net behind a powerful forehand approach before finessing away a drop volley. Seppi, though, really has the bit between his teeth now. He gets the game back to deuce and then fires away an overhead from a deep position – a sure sign of his rising confidence – to bring up set point. The Italian wastes the opportunity by sending a forehand wide, but quickly carves out a second opening which Murray does well to snuff out with a forehand winner. But when a Seppi ace brings up a third set point, the Scot finally falters. Remarkably, unthinkably, we’re into a fourth set!
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Third set: Murray* 1-5 Seppi (sets 2-0) Wow. The psychological balance of this match has shifted on its axis. Seppi thumps a forehand return for a winner at 0-15 on the Murray serve, at which point the Scot grimaces and clutches his shoulder. Sensing blood – of the metaphorical variety, obviously … don’t you know that Wimbledon has an all-white rule? – Seppi follows up with another stinging forehand return, and suddenly Murray is staring down the barrel. He pulls it back to 30-40 but it’s not enough, a backhand error from the Scot yielding a second break. That really is unexpected.
Third set: Murray 1-4 Seppi* (sets 2-0) He may lack firepower, but Seppi is an experienced and wily campaigner. He reaps maximum advantage from the break, increasing Murray’s ire with a solid service game that moves him to within a couple of games of this set. Surely he couldn’t work his way back into this … could he?
Third set: Murray* 1-3 Seppi (sets 2-0) Did that brief hiatus disturb Murray’s concentration? Possibly, because the first two points go against the serve – the second by dint of a lovely cross-court backhand from Seppi – and Murray then double-faults. The Scot retrieves the first two break points with some solid serving, but then throws in a double-fault to drop serve for the first time in the match. He’s not happy and that’s an interesting – and thoroughly unexpected – turn of events.
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After a lengthy break in play, Seppi is back and ready to receive. That’s a relief.
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Sure enough, Seppi is receiving treatment on a calf injury. In the meantime, Andy Murray changes his shirt and Centre Court breaks into a very genteel Mexican wave. Ah, Wimbledon … you gotta love it.
Third set: Murray 1-2 Seppi* (sets 2-0) Seppi appears to have called for the trainer, and it may well be a severe attack of Murrayitis that’s bothering him. There aren’t too many cures available for that painful condition – Novak Djokovic is one of them, although you’d have to imagine he’s unavailable right now – so it’s to the Italian’s credit that he sees out the game to remain on serve in this set.
Third set: Murray* 1-1 Seppi (sets 2-0) A depressing conclusion to the game for Seppi, who sees a deftly angled backhand volley whipped past him for a winner. Murray remains untroubled on serve.
Third set: Murray 0-1 Seppi* (sets 2-0) Consider this: not two weeks ago, Seppi played two fine sets on grass to push Roger Federer – who has been in peerless form at this tournament – to 7-6, 6-4 in the Halle final. Yet Murray is making the Italian look thoroughly ordinary. Comparisons are odious, of course, but it’s an indication of where Murray is at right now that he’s making this look so easy. Belatedly stung into a response, Seppi starts the third set strongly, sealing the opening game with a delicate drop shot.
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Murray wins the second set 6-2
Second set: Murray* 6-2 Seppi (sets 1-0) Murray is as good as Seppi is poor. The match is fast becoming a rout, with the Scot’s toughest test retaining his own concentration in the face of his own overwhelming superiority. At 30-30, Seppi goes long with a woeful backhand volley. He punishes an ill-judged approach shot by Murray to save the first set point, and even reaches break point when Murray errs from the back at deuce. But a penetrating first serve from the Scot, hard and wide to the backhand, gets him back in the frame and – even when a surprising double-fault at deuce a couple of points later gives Seppi another unsuccessful stab at the break – he soon blasts another ace to seal the second set.
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Second set: Murray 5-2 Seppi* (sets 1-0) Serving at 30-40, Seppi throws in a double-fault that damages his prospects further. With 56 minutes gone, the Italian is a game away from a two-set deficit. At this point, his thoughts must be turning to the north American hard-court swing because his grass-court season looks all but over.
Second set: Murray* 4-2 Seppi (sets 1-0) As viewers are offered a close-up of Murray’s wedding ring, which he ties to his shoelaces since marrying the former Kim Sears the other month, thoughts turn once more to the beneficial effects that tying the knot seem to have had on his game. But it’s Seppi that’s being tied in knots here as Murray seals another comfortable hold.
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Second set: Murray 3-2 Seppi* (sets 1-0) “Evening Les,” writes Simon McMahon. “Murray’s good at the tennis, eh?” He certainly is, Simon. He won’t be too happy with that last game, mind, what with having taken it to deuce. Still, he remains a break up and it would take a major lapse of concentration on his part for Seppi to get back in this unless the Italian improves dramatically.
Second set: Murray* 3-1 Seppi (sets 1-0) “Stand up if you love Andy,” chant a line of doubtless football-loving lads whose T-shirts collectively spell out “M-U-R-R-A-Y”. And in other circumstances, this Centre Court crowd just might. But so authoritative is the world No3 right now that the normally raucous Saturday night audience is sterile and sedate. Even a booming forehand drive volley from Murray at 30-30, which he follows with a stinging forehand winner into Seppi’s backhand corner, fails to draw much more than polite applause. After the excitement of Kvitova’s dethroning in the preceding match, this contest is perhaps something of an anticlimax from a spectator standpoint. And Murray will be very, very happy about that, even if not everyone else is.
Second set: Murray 2-1 Seppi* (sets 1-0) A few signs of defiance from the Italian as he gets a bit more purchase on his serve and forehand, but even in serving out at 40-30 he doesn’t look entirely convincing.
Second set: Murray* 2-0 Seppi (sets 1-0) Murray consolidates the break with another convincing service game. James Ward may have lost out in an agonisingly close fifth set over on Court One, but clearly Murray has no intention of going the same way. At 40-15 he slams away a short overhead and it’s increasingly hard to see what Seppi can do to remain competitive here.
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Second set: Murray 1-0 Seppi* (sets 1-0) If Seppi is to make an impression against the third seed, he needs to change things fast. In particular, he needs to find greater consistency, depth and venom on his first serve, be more proactive from the back rather than waiting for a Murray mistake that will probably never come, and go after the Scot’s second serve more. Instead, facing a break point at 30-40, he gives a drop shot way too much air. Murray races forward, and there’s far too much penetration on his double-fisted backhand for the Italian to do anything but lunge fruitlessly at the ball. That’s Murray a set and a break to the good.
Murray wins the first set 6-2
First set: Murray* 6-2 Seppi (*denotes server) Seppi needs to change something fast or this could get embarrassing, because right now the only time he’s able to hurt the former champion is when he sees a return early enough to send it back with interest. The Italian manages it twice in this game, but at 40-30 he drives the ball long from the baseline and Murray is a set to the good.
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First set: Murray 5-2 Seppi* (*denotes server) Having raced to a 0-40 advantage against the Seppi serve, Murray shows some outstanding footwork to send an off forehand past the scrambling Italian. That’s a double break and surely this set is in the bag for Murray now.
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First set: Murray* 4-2 Seppi (*denotes server) After netting a low-percentage forehand on the opening point – taking the ball late, he tries to drag the ball over the high part of the net – Murray recovers with a big serve and some solid baseline play. Twice in quick succession he outrallies Seppi, and the Italian can ill afford to get into these exchanges unless he puts a bit more heat on the ball. From 40-15 down, however, Seppi does just that. A stinging return leaves Murray flat-footed, and he then draws an error from the Scot with an increasingly heavy baseline barrage. At deuce he has a real chance, but elects to lob a short ball with Murray in a vulnerable position at the net. That’s enough for the Scot to recover his equilibrium, and he quickly seals the game.
First set: Murray 3-2 Seppi* (*denotes server) Seppi cranks things up a notch, opening with an ace and following up with some solid baseline play to stay with the Scot. That’s more like it. Let’s not forget that the Italian knows his way around a tennis court. After all, he beat Roger Federer at this year’s Australian Open. Murray will need to maintain his intensity.
First set: Murray* 3-1 Seppi (*denotes server) With the shadow of the Centre Court roof casting a jagged pattern across Seppi’s side of the court, Murray clinches another lengthy baseline exchange to seal the game. This time the Italian is outwitted in the forecourt, coming in behind a short ball but failing to get enough purchase on his shot, which enables Murray to steer away an angled cross-court backhand.
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First set: Murray 2-1 Seppi* (*denotes server) You can see why nine years have elapsed since Seppi last beat Murray. That was at the Nottingham Open in 2006. Murray’s game has evolved beyond all recognition since then, with the Scot beating Seppi in each of their six subsequent encounters. Attempting to rally with Murray, Seppi never looks likely to come out on top. Still, a winning drop shot on game point gets him on the scoreboard at the third time of asking, although not without living dangerously.
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First set: Murray* 2-0 Seppi (*denotes server) There have been several long rallies so far, and in all of them Murray has looked totally in command. At 15-15, the Scot wins a 23-shot exchange when Seppi takes a backhand late, driving the ball into the tramlines. A similar pattern follows on the next point, with the Italian sending a forehand wide. At 40-15, he tries coming in only for Murray to fire a forehand pass beyond him. Is the Italian bereft of answers after just two games? Surely not.
First set: Murray 1-0 Seppi* (*denotes server) Murray makes a hugely encouraging start, breaking at the first time of asking as Seppi drives a forehand long. The Italian won’t be happy with that; playing in a hostile environment, he desperately needed to begin well. Instead, he’s already under pressure with the match just one game old.
We’re underway! Murray has elected to receive. Clearly he wants to test the Seppi serve at the earliest opportunity.
So what can we expect here? Well, Seppi is no mug on grass. He won in Eastbourne four years ago, and arrived in SW19 fresh from reaching the final in Halle, where he lost to some guy called Federer. But the 31-year-old Italian, for all his experience, lacks a big weapon. And in Murray he faces an opponent in arguably the form of his life. There’s a real aura about Murray since his recent successful run on clay, with his burgeoning confidence matched by an increasing willingness to play with greater aggression. It should be interesting.
Murray and Seppi are out on Centre Court, and what a tough act they have to follow. The crowd is still reeling after witnessing the defeat of Petra Kvitova, the defending champion, to Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic. Jelena, who became an honorary Brit when she partnered Andy’s brother Jamie Murray to the mixed doubles title in 2007, beat Kvitova 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. Still, Murray’s arrival was greeted with an enthusiastic roar from the assembled hordes – and there could soon be an even louder cheer from Court One, where James Ward is a game away from week two.
Of course, it’s not all about Andy this year. As I write, James Ward – Murray’s close friend, practice partner and fellow Arsenal fan – is locked in a tense five-set struggle with Canada’s Vasek Pospisil over on Court One (you can follow that one live right here with Alan Smith). And many of you will still be trying to catch your breath after Heather Watson’s extraordinary performance against Serena Williams last night. But what an inspiration Murray must be for his fellow Britons, whom he supports actively and enthusiastically. Not a bad man to have in your corner, is he?
Good evening and welcome
There was a time, not so long ago, when domestic interest in the middle Saturday of Wimbledon was pretty much confined to the beaten British contingent watching on TV from home. Tim Henman was an honourable exception to the trend, but in those days Britwatch was essentially an emotional rollercoaster that unfolded over the first round or two before careering off the rails in spectacular fashion. It was a time for furrowed brows and the exchange of worried glances; an age of near misses, close shaves, glorious – and more often than not inglorious – failure. And that was merely the prelude to the hand-wringing, soul-searching and febrile analysis of the state of British tennis that, after the fall of the last embattled Brit, would dominate coverage for at least 48 hours, until people remembered that there was still a rather important tournament in progress.
But those days are gone. Thanks to Andy Murray, the British public can look back on the fallow years when heroic defeats by the likes of Chris Bailey, Andrew Castle, Barry Cowan and Miles Maclagan – who respectively slipped to valiant five-set losses against Goran Ivanisevic, Mats Wilander, Pete Sampras and Boris Becker – were the pinnacle of domestic achievement. Even Henman’s thrilling and frequently gut-wrenching progress to four Wimbledon semi-finals seems relatively modest beside Murray’s unforgettable victory two years ago.
Lest we forget, that high note – which marked the end of a 77-year wait for a men’s singles champion – by no means represents the sum total of Murray’s achievements in SW19. There was the agonising defeat to Roger Federer on the final Sunday the previous year; the three semi-final appearances that preceded that tearful afternoon in 2012; Rafael Nadal’s brutal evisceration of the Scot in the 2008 quarter-finals. Oh yes, Andy Murray and Wimbledon have history. And this afternoon the man from Dunblane, who is arguably in the form of his life, will look to write another chapter in that annal by progressing to week two for the ninth time in 10 attempts. Standing in his way is Andreas Seppi, the talented, 27th-ranked Italian who has reached the last eight at the Australian and US Opens but never before made it beyond the third round at the All England Club. Needless to say, Murray will be hoping to keep it that way.
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