Andy Murray bows out of Wimbledon with second round defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas on Centre Court

 A bitterly frustrated Andy Murray left the Centre Court crestfallen after being ousted from Wimbledon by a terrific performance from world number five Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Resuming at two sets to one up, the 36 year-old Scot was left feeling his age as he succumbed to a fearsome combination of serves and forehands, joining cam Norrie in making an exit from the second round.

Murray was beaten 6-7 7-6 6-4 6-7 6-4 in a total of four hours and 40 minutes, having pinned all his preparations on making a decent run on the grass.

It was the Greek’s fourth day on court in a row, and you could only admire the energy he was able to bring. He needed to produce his best ever performance on this surface to beat Murray, the bedrock of it being his awesome combination of serve and forehand, which the Scot was not quite able to unpick. 

‘Never easy against Andy, everyone loves him here. I am very impressed the way he holds up having two hip surgeries,’ said Tsitsipas. ‘It was nerve wraking, I had to overcome it, it’s difficult when you have grown up watching him on this court. He was part of the top four for a very long time and I looked up to him. They are the reason I’m the player I am today.

Greek tennish star Stefanos Tsitsipas was emotional after coming out on top against Murray

Tsitsipas embraced Murray after the hard-fought win on Centre Court

‘You have to come up with solutions at two sets to one down. I knew he is someone who will make it a marathon and I had to work extra hard and my legs are sore.’

The match restarted just before 430pm in very different conditions from the night before, considerably quicker with the roof open and the sun shining.

The Greek started very positively in opening exchanges which were marked by some poor line calls and his serve looking fairly impregnable, his first delivery being very consistent. Murray got to 30-30 in the seventh game, only to have his chances quickly snuffed out by smart net play.

The elaborate game of hide and seek against the weaker Tsitsipas backhand continued up to 4-4, although Murray was starting to make inroads on the serve and got to deuce, but still he could not force a break point. Murray did not help himself that he failed to challenge a call of wide against a return of serve which was incorrect, and would have given him 15-40.

A couple of superb passing shots carried him into a tiebreak which had always looked a likely outcome from the resumption. Both held serve until the changeover at 3-3, before Tsitsipas got the better of a mesmerising rally and went ahead with a minibreak 4-3 by finishing it off with an overhead.

It ended up mirroring the previous day’s first tiebreak, with Tsitsipas’s first serve powering him through to take it 7-3, leaving Murray looking pensive at the changeover.

At 1-1 Murray served only his second double fault of the match to go 0-40 down. The first two were saved but then the Scot thumped a straightforward forehand into the net and the Greek had his first break of the contest.

It was looking bleak for Murray with Tsitsipas serving so well, and the twice champion being unable to dictate play as he would wish. On a third match point he sent down one more unstoppable serve, the shot which had carried him throughout.