Tulsa World: Murray wins under lights

TULSA WORLD HOMEPAGE | Wednesday, February 10, 2010 | WIRELESS

OU | OSU | TU | ORU | HIGH SCHOOLS | COLLEGE FOOTBALL | COLLEGE BASKETBALL | NFL | FANTASY | OUTDOORS | GOLF | PROS | ALL

HOMEPAGES

SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS

		Sports Editor Mike Strain
		Sports Columnist Dave Sittler
		The Picker Entertaining & Infuriating

LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

Search the World's archives

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US

BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

Buy a published photo by clicking the "Order this Picture" link on the photo. For a full-color page reprint, call 732-8198 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday or order online.

TULSA WORLD

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA

Learn more about the site.

Newspaper View Print this story

Bookmark

Murray wins under lights

Britain's own Andy Murray falls to his knees as he defeats Stanislas Wawrinka in their fourth round singles match on Monday. Alastair Grant / Associated Press

By HOWARD FENDRICH Associated Press
Published: 6/30/2009 2:27 AM
Last Modified: 6/30/2009 5:05 AM

WIMBLEDON, England — They played into the night on Centre Court, later than anyone ever had in Wimbledon's long history, and they played indoors, the first match contested entirely under the new roof.

And at 10:39 p.m. Monday, when No. 3-seeded Andy Murray of Britain finally finished off a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 victory over No. 19 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland to reach the quarterfinals at the All England Club, the partisan fans celebrated their guy's win with a roar.

"It was pretty special," said Murray, who dropped to his knees when the match ended, then stood and swatted a ball up so hard it hit the roof.

No man from Britain has won Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936, and, like his countrymen, Murray — a 22-year-old Scot — is more interested in that sort of history than the sort he and Wawrinka made Monday.

Still, these circumstances were extraordinary, what with Centre Court's roof shut, the lights on and a chance to play the match until its rightful conclusion, no matter how late.

That's never before been the case at Wimbledon, where unlike the U.S. Open, there never has been lighted courts, and matches often are stopped in progress because of darkness. Previously, no Centre Court point had been played later than 9:35 p.m.

"I'll have a pretty deep sleep after that one," Murray said.

At a tournament that began in 1877, not a single point had been contested indoors until earlier Monday, when a light sprinkle interrupted No. 1-ranked Dinara Safina's 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over 2006 champion Amelie Mauresmo. After the fifth game of the second set, the translucent roof above the main stadium was closed, and Safina and Mauresmo finished up underneath — even though by the time they resumed, the rain had stopped.

Because forecasts called for later showers (none arrived), organizers left the contraption sealed for Murray-Wawrinka, which turned out to be a fortuitous decision, even if Murray found the conditions "very, very heavy and very humid; sweating so much."

"When I finished, it was like I'd been in a bath," he said.

Five-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer won easily, as did two-time runner-up Andy Roddick and No. 4 Novak Djokovic. Venus Williams, like Federer chasing a sixth title at the All England Club, was way ahead when her opponent, former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, quit with a thigh injury. Williams' younger sister, Serena, herself a two-time Wimbledon champion, and No. 4 Elena Dementieva were never challenged in their straight-set victories.

One surprising run ended in the fourth round. Melanie Oudin, a 17-year-old qualifier from Marietta, Ga., who never won a Grand Slam match before last week, lost to No. 11 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-4, 7-5.

By HOWARD FENDRICH Associated Press

Newspaper View Print this story

Bookmark

COMMENTS

Add your comment

Show: Most Recent Comment First

0 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!

Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you. -- Web Editor Jason Collington

Add Your Comment
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.