LONDON -- Andy Murray's Wimbledon journey finished in the second round after Stefanos Tsitsipas prevailed in a two-day, five-set epic on Centre Court.
Murray, 36, came into Friday's match with an overnight two-sets-to-one lead with play suspended at 10:39 p.m. on Thursday, 21 minutes ahead of the local council curfew. But Friday was Tsitsipas' day as he played some of his best tennis we've seen at Wimbledon to dispatch the three-time Grand Slam winner 7-6 (3), 6-7 (2), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 in 4 hours 40 minutes.
Tsitsipas, 24, will now face Serbia's Laslo Djere in the third round, likely on Saturday. Djere upset No. 32 seed Ben Shelton on Friday, winning 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
"[It's] never easy against Andy," Tsitsipas said in a postmatch interview, "I know everyone loves him here. It was a difficult game, I'm impressed with the way he holds up having had so many years on the tour, having had two hip surgeries, I'm very pleased with his level today and I wish him the very best.
"[The overnight break] didn't help that much. You're dealing with a lot of things -- you're facing Andy Murray, you have to come up with solutions, you have to be careful of what you pursue. I know I was playing someone who returns the balls in, he makes it hard for you and I had to work extra hard today to get the victory. My legs are sore -- he made me run left and right, up and down. It was difficult."
The match was played out on the 10th anniversary of Murray's first Wimbledon title, and he once again had the Centre Court crowd on its feet, but it was Tsitsipas who will continue at this year's championships, and he said it was an obstacle he had to overcome.
"It was nerve-wracking," he said. "I had to overcome it, it was an obstacle, a big one. It's extra difficult when you've grown up watching him play on this court, I had goosebumps when he won the title in 2013 and I felt for him how much it meant when he had his courageous run in 2012. He was part of the top four for a long time, I looked up to him, Roger [Federer], Rafa [Nadal] and Novak [Djokovic] -- they shaped the game and they're the reason I'm the pro level player I am today."
Play resumed at 4:30 p.m. local time Friday, and there were fears of how Murray would perform after he fell awkwardly while stretching for a shot in the penultimate point of the previous night's play. As he served out for the third set, he collapsed to the floor, holding his left side, but managed to close out the set in the next point. There were no signs of the injury scare as he returned to face Tsitsipas on Friday, but Tsitsipas had managed to find the same rhythm and accuracy we saw in the first set Thursday evening.
Unlike the previous evening's play under the roof, Friday's action was out in the open, under the clear blue sky with a breeze flowing around the court. In the fourth set, it was ferociously close. Murray and Tsitsipas held serve, with Tsitsipas' forehand on point and Murray dominating the net, leading to the inevitable tiebreak. But this was judged perfectly by Tsitsipas as he took it 7-3, breaking Murray twice in the process.
The key break of serve in the fifth came in the third game. Tsitsipas gave himself an 0-40 buffer on Murray's serve. Murray clawed back two but stuck a forehand into the net to give Tsitsipas the key advantage and break of serve. Tsitsipas kept his cool in the balmy temperatures, and Murray battled for every point but couldn't force any nervous moments on Tsitsipas' serve.
At 6:16 p.m. Friday, Tsitsipas closed out the match -- after Murray saved two match points -- nearly 23 hours after it all begun.