Stefanos Tsitsipas ends Andy Murray’s Wimbledon by beating him in 5 sets over 2 days

By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Tennis Writer

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Stefanos Tsitsipas eliminated two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray 7-6 (3), 6-7 (2), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 on Friday in a second-round match that lasted more than 4 1/2 hours spread over two days at Centre Court.

Murray was loudly supported by most of the 15,000 or so spectators, who all surely were aware that his 2013 title at the All England Club was the first there for a British man in 77 years. Murray also won Wimbledon in 2016, along with the 2012 U.S. Open and two Olympic gold medals.

He is now 36, with an artificial hip after two operations on that joint. Murray could not hold onto the two-sets-to-one lead he built against Tsitsipas before play was suspended Thursday night because it was getting too late to play.

On the point before action was halted, Murray slipped and fell at the baseline, but he did not appear to struggle with any sort of injury when they resumed nearly 18 hours later. After so much rain earlier in the week, the pale blue sky was unencumbered by clouds, and some sitting on the side of the stadium that was blanketed by sun flapped their fans to try to stay cool with the temperature at 85 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius).

Tsitsipas drew loud boos when he went over to the chair umpire to dispute a ruling, but he never seemed rattled at all during points. He took the last four points of the fourth-set tiebreaker Friday — just as he had done to claim the first-set tiebreaker on Thursday — then broke early in the fifth to lead 2-1 and was on his way.

The No. 5-seeded Tsitsipas is a two-time runner-up at Grand Slam tournaments, including at the Australian Open in January. He will face Laslo Djere in the third round.

It was a rough day for the local fans: The highest-seeded British man, No. 12 Cam Norrie, was defeated by American Chris Eubanks 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3).

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