Murray roars into last eight with epic win
British No1 Andy Murray surged back from a seemingly insurmountable position to beat eighth seed Richard Gasquet and reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final.
Murray looked finished at two sets and 5-4 down but mounted an epic recovery that enthralled Centre Court and reached its climax almost four hours after play began.
The Scot seemed to grow in strength as the evening light faded and, just before 9:30pm, completed his first fightback from two sets behind 5-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4, to set up a last-eight meeting with Rafael Nadal.
“That was the best moment I’ve ever had on a tennis court,” said 12th seed Murray. “To come back from two sets to love and win it is an awesome feeling. I had to keep fighting. He was completely outplaying me and once I won that third set his head went down and I kind of ran away with it.” Gasquet edged the first set and won the second with a flourish, before opening up a break in the third. But the 22-year-old Frenchman failed to serve out the match and Murray signalled the start of an unlikely recovery by claiming the tie-break.
The fourth set followed with a minimum of fuss, as the 15,000 spectators were brought to their feet on several occasions. Momentum was now firmly behind Murray, and he sealed the win on his second match point.
Murray flexed his biceps to the delighted crowd upon sealing the win, but an even more muscular presence awaits in the last eight, in world No2 Nadal. The Spaniard has won all three of their previous meetings but Murray insisted he was confident about tomorrow’s match.
“I’m definitely a better player than I was before – and fitter,” he said. “If I play like that again there’s no reason why I can’t win.”