A compelling, thrilling and brutal game, with wonderful skill, incredible athleticism and unforeseeable swings of momentum sees Andy Murray through to a quarter-final against Nick Kyrgios
1.39pm GMT
So, there we are. A compelling, violent, beautiful contest - everything that makes tennis and sport so compelling, violent and beautiful - and Murray is through to face Nick Kyrgios in the next round. Thanks all for your comments and company - bye
1.33pm GMT
Before, of course, the obligatory, not remotely obligatory comments about his fiancee - “Kim’s here, she looks exceptional as always.” Dearie me. Then, “morning suit or kilt for the wedding?” “I’ll have both and decide on the day, Murray says, before adding I’ve got a match to play in a couple of days, can I go please?”
1.31pm GMT
And his tactics against Kyrgios - “I’ll not be sharing them with you.”
1.30pm GMT
“Give us a summation of Nick Kyrgios.”
“I have no idea what that means!”
1.29pm GMT
Murray’s then asked about Kyrgios on the next round - he heard the noise but wasn’t watching, so wondered if Dimitrov was inciting the crowd before consulting with his box. The interviewer doesn’t ask him to twirl, or show his muscles, but does request that he “do the decent thing”.
1.28pm GMT
“I hope it was fun for everyone watching,” he continues. “Grigor’s an unbelievable athlete, incredibly quick around the court so agile, fantastic hands. He always plays entertaining matches, he’s fun to watch, I think I played a good match.”
1.27pm GMT
“I did get quite lucky at the end, a few net cords went my way. That was the difference at the end,” says Murray.
1.26pm GMT
That was outstanding. Brilliance, fluctuations, surprises. Everything we’re here for.
1.25pm GMT
Dimitrov 5-7, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6 Murray* Murray is buzzing. He goes to 15, then a serve down the middle, and Dimitrov nets a return. But how does he come back! A rally fro the baseline, Murray dictating, waiting to strike, and then crosscourt backhand set up and forehand winner into the same corner, just vacated by Murray in anticipation of a shot going the opposite way. Oh my! Dimitrov is a stud! Again, he maintains nerve and attacks, forcing Murray to net, but then a chunky first serve, 203kph down the middle when Dimitrov was ready to go out wide, and it’s matchpoint! And it’s there! A murderous forehand sets up another, only this time, it’s a netcord, and the ball drops almost directly underneath it! What a game that was, what a pair of spectacular human beings they are!
1.20pm GMT
*Dimitrov 5-6, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6 Murray More broiges with officials, this time on the part of Dimitrov, after a line judge corrects a call -she said out, it was in, he wasn’t getting it, and it’s 0-15. And suddenly, Murray is playing like God’s dad, swatting through the next two points, to give himself three break points! And this time, he only needs one, Dimitrov going long, before thrashing his racket into the court, to its fatal detriment - and, minutes after serving for the set, must now break Murray to stay in the competition! Sport is the best.
1.16pm GMT
Dimitrov 5-5, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6 Murray* I suppose, in tennis, things often come down to a point here and there - that’s why it’s so easy to fix - and that which precedes them is commentary. Love games, difficult holds, whatever; how do you handle the vinegar strokes? And suddenly, Murray is rousting, the serve’s there, the disguise, and the anticipation. And at 30-15, he plays another magical point of skill and athleticism, winning it with a spinning forehand on the backhand tramline. But Dimitrov isn’t conceding, closing to 40-30, before a net-cord that might have foxed men with slower reactions, allows Murray to reset and guide a topspin backhand oblique winner across the face of the net. The genius of his hands in those positions is enough to make a person cry.
1.10pm GMT
*Dimitrov 5-4, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6 Murray A second serve, aimed at the body, forces Murray to run around his forehand, and Dimitrov is 15-0 up. The crowd, in which various vocal members are back him hard, keep at it, but Murray then flips a backhand pass forcing Dimitrov to volley from under the net, and allows him to hit a winner. Then, Murray outsmarts him in the next point, Dimitrov overhits a forehand after great defence from Murray, and it’s two break-back points! Dimitrov’s serve gets big on Murray, he can only block back a waft, and a forehand saves the first. A serve into the net. Then a forehand long! And Murray’s broken back! What on earth is going on? Dimitrov looked poised, didn’t even look tight, and somehow, thanks in part to the beauty of that earlier backhand, Murray is back in a set in which he’s been dominated.
1.06pm GMT
Dimitrov 5-3, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6 Murray* Another murderous forehand, another point to Dimitrov, but he goes long with it off a second serve to lose the next. But,30-15 down, his backhand starts working, and it forces a forehand error from Murray, who then advances to 40-30 before a thumping forehand, right on the baseline, forces Murray on the defensive, facilitates a clean-up second forehand, and earns deuce. Dimitrov is hot! Another forehand winner, and it’s set point! But Murray keeps the heid, a deep groundstroke wide to the backhand side getting him deuce, followed by more aggravation with the umpire - “a shocking day at the office,” Murray tells him, after a ball’s called in when it’s clearly out. Which it isn’t. The point’s replayed, and a service winner gives it to Murray, who then clinches the game.
“What is gadlus and malchus,” asks Kristian Petterson, pulling me up on my neglecting to hyperlink. It’s greatness and divinity, in biblical Hebrew.
12.57pm GMT
*Dimitrov 5-2, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6 Murray Dimitrov swipes another of his crosscourt forehands to open the game - what a weapon it is - but a 30-0, he arrives at the net too early, and nets. But Mats likes the tactic, so it’s fine with the world, and Dimitrov has a problem with his racket - it’s shedding lead -and Murray catches him with a wondrous lob, his response from the baseline again hitting the net. But he changes implement and wins the next point, before Murray again conjured a delectable lob on the almost half-volley; deuce. And Dimitrov responds with an ace - what a competitor, what temperament -and then another service winner. Brilliant from both supermen.
12.53pm GMT
Dimitrov 4-2, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6 Murray* At the moment, Murray isn’t sure whether to attack or wait, and Dimitrov, primed solely for aggression, is taking advantage. 15-0 up, he’s incredibly fast to a well-disguised and well-executed dropshot, flipping and forcing a winner down the line, and he quickly closes out a love game that appears to maybe perhaps possibly evidence a change of approach.
12.49pm GMT
*Dimitrov 4-1, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6 Murray Anguished bellowing from Murray as an error gives Dimitrov 15, and then a forehand scooshes into the top of the net to make it 30. Murray, ordering, beseeching himself to stay in the rally, then does precisely that, winning the next two points - the second set up with a backhand crosscourt of gadlus and malchus. But, he stays in the next rally, and Dimitrov takes advantage of his passivity to swipe a backhand crosscourt, then clinches the game amidst further admonishing of self by his opponent.
12.45pm GMT
Dimitrov 3-1, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6 Murray* Dimitrov slams a backhand into the net post, and it flips shallow into Murray’s side. Murray experiences displeasure. He fights back immediately, but then Dimitrov bounces back what Murray expected to be a winner, and taken by surprise, he nets. Murray then takes the next two points, and Dimitrov nets a return to get Murray on the board in this set.
12.41pm GMT
*Dimitrov 3-0, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6 Murray Dimitrov, who had been looking lived-in between points, is suddenly alive - a love game, and impetus is his.
12.39pm GMT
Dimitrov 2-0, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6 Murray* Dimitrov is first in, but Murray racks him up with a serve down the middle and follow-up winner. Then, though, Dimitrov comes back, before Murray sends him wide to the backhand and volleys an overhead winner, earning deuce at the end of another marvellous rally - Dimitrov forces Murray to the next, he slants a volleys acorss the net, Dimitrov responds, and Murray punishes a winner deep down the forehand side - that Dimitrov nearly reaches. Dimitrov then seizes the nettle, first powering into Murray’s serve, then delivering another brilliant return - Murray responds with a good volley - but not good enough, Dimitrov closing out point and game for a break!
12.34pm GMT
*Dimitrov 1-0, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6 Murray Murray has changed his shorts; give us a twirl, blah and pleh. Dimitrov probably appreciated the break too, and he opens the set looking fresher than of late. But, from 30-0 up, he needlessly cedes two points as Murray feeds what must be considered a docile backhand, and then again, Dimitrov top-spinning when he might slice, and Murray has yet another breakpoint. But Dimitrov rides it well - a serve out wide, a forehand zetezed down the line, and then a backhand volley, stepped into at the net; deuce. Then two quick points for Dimitrov, and wasn’t that an odd game.
12.28pm GMT
Murray’s gone for a lag. Clearly he’s not sweating enough, the dosser.
12.24pm GMT
*Dimitrov 3-6, 7-6, 4-6 Murray Dimitrov takes the first point of the game, but Murray is right back at him, forcing him wide on the forehand side; he nets. In commentary, they discuss the important matters at hand - Kim Sears’ engagement ring - while Murray deals with on-court trifles, a booming serve clearing the way for a simple winner, and another first serve forcing an error. Brilliant play, there - when he turned it up again, Dimitrov simply couldn’t respond. What has he left?
12.21pm GMT
*Dimitrov 3-5, 7-6, 4-6 Murray It’s no wonder that Andy Murray’s favourite other sport is boxing; tennis basically is boxing, down the physical pain. And very few men can hand it out, or endure it like him - he wins the first point of this game, then outlasts Dimitrov in the next rally. Next, he goes long, challenges, and uses the opportunity to slate the umpire again, before flinging himself into the following point, extending Dimitrov’s every sinew and cell from the baseline to give himself two chances to break. But Dimitrov finds two very fine first serves and then a backhand and a forehand, delivered with screeching power, earn a game point when Murray nets. But a double-fault means we’re at deuce, and then a long rally ends with Dimitrov pulling a forehand wide. He goes for another big serve, but it’s wide, and then, Murray clambers into him, eliciting an error, and he’s serving for the third set! He’s had 15 break points so far this evening!
12.13pm GMT
Dimitrov 3-4, 7-6, 4-6 Murray* Somehow, it’s both a problem that Dimitrov has played a long game in the previous round, and Murray has yet to be tested. Dimitrov wins the first point of the game, but Murray responds with an ace. Then, a rally of racing groundstrokes, the kind usually controlled by Murray, but Dimitrov is reading him far better now, and pummels a winner from the T to the forehand corner; 15-30. So Murray responds with an ace, this time down the middle, and a similar delivery forces Dimitrov to return long, and when a further return is netted, Murray’s come through a demanding game.
12.09pm GMT
*Dimitrov 3-3, 7-6, 4-6 Murray Murray continues to gripe - ‘Sorry, you’re right, but I didn’t see it,’ excuses the man in place to see precisely it. Dimitrov, who’s outfit looks not unlike Air Jordan 3s, eases to the game, to 15.
12.05pm GMT
Dimitrov 2-3, 7-6, 4-6 Murray* No way! At 30-15, Murray races around the net to play a winner, the ball bounces twice, the umpire misses it as Dimitrov flings himself, then again, until eventually Murray plays an indisputable winner. He remonstrates. And, while Murray continues bitching, Dimitrov pounces on his second serve, but he bounces back to clinch the game.
“Does Murray look to be his usual erratic self or is he more composed than when Dimitrov thrashed him last time?” asks Richard Howes.
12.01pm GMT
*Dimitrov 2-2, 7-6, 4-6 Murray Dimitrov gets what looks like a bad bounce on the the baseline and scoops a groundstroke long. He’s quickly on terms, though, before netting a nondescript backhand - the buzz of the tiebreak has faded. Then, a service wide to the backhand allows him to pound a forehand winner, before a vintage Murray point, commanding the baseline before unfurling an inside-out forehand, gives him breakpoint. Dimitrov saves it, but another excellent return, taking early and delivered flat and hard, earns another - saved when a deep volley forces a lob that falls just long. Then a tired-looking serve cedes another, Murray again going long, but a backhand winner, hit from the middle of the baseline to Dimitrov’s backhand side, gives him another opportunity - and again, he can’t convert. Dimitrov takes advantage this time, the one-two wide and down the middle backed up by a very handy second serve. Murray smiles, but is clearly gerfruntzled.
“Tennis like this is not only brilliant, but also mesmerising,” emails Simon McMahon. “Early signs are that 2015 is shaping up to be a career defining year for Andy. A win in Australia, and another Wimbledon or US Open title, will put him up among the greats. Go Andy!”
11.52am GMT
Dimitrov 1-2, 7-6, 4-6 Murray* A double-fault at 15-0 brings Dimitrov into the game, but Murray quickly advances to 30-15, and nabs a second-serve point with a flat one out wide. Then, he misses again with his first go, and his second is not exactly powered, but the length is decent, and Dimitrov nets the return.
11.49am GMT
*Dimitrov 1-1, 7-6, 4-6 Murray Oh, and this is lovely from Dimitrov, responding with a love game of his own. In a way, he looks in more control than at the very start, when he was riding a wave of heat - now, he’s more calculating and composed.
11.47am GMT
Dimitrov 0-1, 7-6, 4-6 Murray* Murray is not chuffed, spluttering and flinging. He threw away the advantage in that set, and in the tiebreak, well though Dimitrov played it, contributed to his own downfall with some curious shot-selection. But he’s back at the start of the next bit, with a love game.
11.43am GMT
Dimitrov 7-6 (7-5), 4-6 Murray More brilliance from Dimitrov, who’s worked Murray’s serve out. He returns well, plays a thunderous forehand approach, and cinches the point with a volley at the net. Murray regains one mini-break immediately, but then nets a backhand return, and Dimitrov has three set-points - the first two on Murray’s serve. He nets his return, and the second forces him wide, forcing him to do the same. Here comes the third, on his service, a huge mother down the middle, and this time Murray nets! One apiece, and a classic upon us!
11.39am GMT
Dimitrov 6-6 (4-2), 4-6 Murray* Dimitrov is defensive and hits the net, giving Murray the mini-break, but then devours a second serve with a forehand powered past Murray with spitting venom. Murray, though, keeps the heid, a lazy backhand from Dimitrov, sliced wide from the backhand side, giving him the point. Dimitrov, though is having none of it, taking advantage of a weak lob when a passing shot was required. But oh my days! Murray’s serve, returned, a drop shot, a net exchange that he dominates and almost always wins, but he can’t put away an overhead, and a curling backhand pass gives Dimitrov 4-2.
11.34am GMT
Dimitrov 6-6, 4-6 Murray* Murray serves wide to the forehand and Dimitrov anticipates, cutting the angle and directing a return to the bootlaces that forces Murray to net. Then, he comes to the net as Murray plays a backhand drop when a forehand seemed the obvious call, putting away the volley with ease. And though Murray’s serve sets up the next point, another superb return from Dimitrov sets up overhead and two break-back points. The first, Murray sends a deep groundstroke to the backhand side which elicits an error, and a fault gives Dimitrov a chance on a second serve. But he hesitates on the forehand and the delay forces him to hit wide, before a lovely forehand down the line opens the court for him to approach the net and guide a volley cross-court. And Murray serves a double-fault! Tie-break!
11.28am GMT
*Dimitrov 5-6, 4-6 Murray Dimitrov sends Murray wide, then invites him to the net - somehow, he manages it, his speed, dexterity and strength lifting a lob that’s netted on the smash. Then, a flicked backhand from the backhand corner elicits a half-courter, top-spun past Dimitrov, who retorts well next point. But Murray is right back into him, sending him to hither and yon along the baseline, eventually drawing the error - if that’s possible along a fixed point -and will serve for the second set!
11.24am GMT
Dimitrov 5-5, 4-6 Murray* Murray sends a groundstroke wide, but redeems it immediately with an ace. The next rally is a longun, Murray controlling, Dimitrov looking for the defining stroke - and here, he goes long, before netting a return. Murray’s serve does the rest.
11.20am GMT
*Dimitrov 5-4, 4-6 Murray Murray takes the first two points of the game, without being forced to deserve them, but Dimitrov, tested in the next rally, hangs in there well, eventually dispatching a smash from mid-court. And he comes to the net again, but Murray’s return is good, then an equally good forehand is rattled at the body - it can only be deflected back, and that’s breakpoint. But Murray wastes the chance, presented with a second serve but sending a backhand wide. You’ve got to admire Dimitrov’s composure here, because he won’t stop taking risks; he cedes another breakpoint, and he looks out of the next rally, but somehow sends a forehand down the line while almost sitting on his buttocks, eventually punching a winner towards the same area. And, though he spurns the next advantage, he earns another, which he converts. This is some contest.
11.13am GMT
Dimitrov 4-4, 4-6 Murray* We see the final point of Kyrgios’ win, settled on a hawkeye call, so miss Murray taking a 40-0 lead, and a service winner clinches the game.
11.10am GMT
*Dimitrov 4-3, 4-6 Murray This is not dissimilar to the first set, in a sense - one player playing like God, the other hanging in there, and then fighting back. But Dimitrov is not quite as good an athlete as Murray - can he hang with him, two days after going five sets? He’s made to work hard here, too, at 30-30, earning game point with a taxing overhead, as Murray chunters at himself to be aggressive. And he is, a backhand gaining deuce, but a well-directed serve gives Dimitrov advantage. The points are lengthening here, and Murray deconstructs Dimitrov from the baseline - perhaps he should serve-volley more, because he surely can’t outhit and outlast Murray in the kind of match this is becoming. Sure enough, Murray takes himself another breakpoint, but Dimitrov responds well - as the crowd a-whoop and a-holler with news that Kyrgios is through - regaining deuce and then taking advantage with a serve out wide and clean-up forehand down the middle. Murray saves the gamepoint, though, before Dimitrov nails a pair of services as we gain the business end.
11.01am GMT
Dimitrov 3-3, 4-6 Murray* To paraphrase Rob Smyth on Roy Keane, Murray’s reading Dimitrov like he wrote him. First, he picks up a drop-shot, and then, as Dimitrov tries frantically to end the rally at the net, picks the correct side three times and eventually has time to direct the ball past him for a winner. But an unforced error and a double-fault gives Dimitrov 15-30, and then a second serve down the middle is clouted straight back, close to line and shin, and Murray nets; two break points. And what a point follows! Murray controls it, sending Dimitrov wide, then drawing him in, backhand side at the net. He produces an excellent slanting volley, Murray reaches it and thunks down the line - but Dimitrov races back to return, and Murray has to stretch to direct his winner. But then, after an exchange of groundstrokes, Murray nets, and Dimitrov has broken back!
10.55am GMT
*Dimitrov 2-3, 4-6 Murray Welcome
to the real football factories
love game for Dimitrov, and with minimum effort, too. Maybe he should gamble on Murray’s serve and just pick a side and go for winners - easy, yeah? - because he’s finding it tough waiting on him.
10.53am GMT
Dimitrov 1-3, 4-6 Murray* Dimitrov waits for Murray’s serve and slams a cross-court forehand return to get ahead in the game, but another service winner eradicates that sharpish. Murray is just so quick around the court, and when Dimitrov, controlling the next rally, snaps a net-cord, he’s onto it in a instant. Dimitrov, though, is sticking at it, and when Murray dares him to make the running, he does, shmicing a forehand winner. But Murray’s service-swag is just too much - he’s not going for the corners, and risking missing, but he’s hitting them hard and accurately. That’s another game to him.
10.47am GMT
*Dimitrov 1-2, 4-6 Murray two blistering returns from Murray, give him 15-30 - the second, in particular, is exceptional, on the forehand side, but guided low cross-court via backhand. He’s picking Dimitrov now, losing the next point, but earning breakpoint with a backhand down the middle that caught Ditmitrov about the ankles. And more good, deep hitting forces the error, Dimitrov whacking a forehand into the top of the net to cede the break!
“How about a Bulgarian tune,” offers Dave McMurrugh.
10.43am GMT
Dimitrov 1-1, 4-6 Murray* Two service winners for Murray - if he can keep nailing his first go, it’s hard to see how he can lose here. But then he misses, Dimitrov pounces, and suddenly has half a chance, coming to the net after forcing Murray wide to meet a backhand, and snapping a leaping backhand volley winner. Facing another second serve, he then nets a forehand, but doesn’t miss out a second time, earning deuce with a return wide to the backhand and a clean-up forehand down the line. Murray, though, responds - first with an excellent first serve, and then a much better second serve.
10.38am GMT
*Dimitrov 1-0, 4-6 Murray Murray just has unreal eye and wrists, as well as supreme athleticism. At 30-love, Dimitrov smashes a lob to the forehand corner, and somehow, Murray anticipates, arrives, and modifies a kind of shoulder-high response, caressed down the line. And, though Dimitrov wins the next point, he can’t shake Murray off easily, forced to 40-30 before Murray overhits a forehand that flies wide. Elsewhere, Kyrgios is a break up on Seppi in the final set, after losing the first two.
10.33am GMT
Dimitrov 4-6 Murray* Murray gets off to a good start, taking the first point, but then serves a fault, and his second delivery - 72mph! - gets the treatment. But Dimitrov misses the repeat opportunity - the ball sat up begging to be destroyed, only for him to go long - and then another routine serve-and-groundstroke gives Murray set-point. And he does it with an ace! This has been a magnificent set of tennis by both players, but in particular by Andy Murray, who hung in there when outhit, and produced a moment of brilliance with that backhand and those wrists to wrest control. Can Dimitrov respond?
10.29am GMT
*Dimitrov 4-5 Murray Dimitrov starts by punishing a forehand down the line, but Murray levels the game with a backhand slice that asks too much of him - he can’t find the topspin and power to respond. Then, Dimitrov eases to 30-15, but Murray is right into this, sending him out wide on the forehand side, then leaping into the net to cane a hopeful squash-shot back past him off the baseline. And it’s quickly break-point Murray, but a forehand is netted, before Dimitrov is surprised by a slightly sharper backhand - that’s a second break-point. And there it is! A magical return has Murray dictating the point, backhand corner to backhand corner, but both players using the forehand, before he switches to ram one down towards the opposite flank and advances when the ball drops half-court. He’ll be serving for the set!
10.24am GMT
Dimitrov 4-4 Murray* Murray is playing with fire now,
and has ruined his kitchen floor with WD40 and a cigarette lighte
r thumping serves and following them with confident groundstrokes. He manages a game without a fault, ending with an ace, and has only required four second serves so far.
10.21am GMT
*Dimitrov 4-3 Murray Murray might just have the measure of Dimitrov’s power now - he’s not playing any less well, but Murray is playing better, and winning more of the marginal points not settled by the astounding. He gets to 15-30, but then Dimitrov takes over, and wins his first game in four. Phew; already, this is brutal. Only fighters are anything like the athletes the best tennisers are. Apart from athletes, obviously, and even then...
10.17am GMT
Dimitrov 3-3 Murray* Where do we go from here? The words are coming out all weird, where are you now, when I need you? Questions, no doubt, percolating the mind of Grigor Dimitrov, somehow forsaken by old Maurice Mentum, by virtue, more or less, of one shot. But, after Murray races to 30-love, thanks in part to an ace, both players bang groundstrokes - the standard now is exceptional - and a dropshot gets him back in the game. Murray, though, responds, dematerialising a forehand that’s not in the corner, but still far too fast, and then an ace rounds off the game. We could be in for an absolute jazzer, here.
10.13am GMT
*Dimitrov 3-2 Murray Good from Murray, forcing Dimitrov to play a leaping forehand volley that he nets. But he’s back next point, sending Murray scuttling across the baseline to retrieve a booming forehand, then absolutely annihilating a forehand smash from almost back on his own baseline. But Murray is warming up, getting to 30, and then flips an astoundingly good pass, cross-court from wide on the backhand side, flat and oblique over the net. And then, following a fault, a low return towards the feet is too good for Dimitrov, and somehow, after being outplayed for five games, he’s broken back!
10.09am GMT
Dimitrov 3-1 Murray* Dimitrov has just been too good so far - worryingly for Murray, he’s being out-thought as well as out-hit. And the first point here follows that pro forma, Murray drawn to the next with a sliced drop-shot and passed when he can only flip it back into play, half-court. “Is it possible to start too well?” asks the commentator. “Definitely,” answers Wilander. But Murray fights to 30-all, before a second serve is absolutely pulverised back down the line, Dimitrov mooching around his backhand to give it what-for. Murray has reverted to his behind-the-head toss on that, to impart more slice, but Dimitrov had so much time there, vicious though the execution was. If anything, he’s hit it too well, and all that. Murray, meanwhile, is still not loving Spidercam, but manages to get on the board via deuce.
10.02am GMT
*Dimitrov 3-0 Murray At 15-all, the first flash of Murray, seizing onto a half-courter on the forehand side and walloping down the line. Even so, Dimitrov isn’t far off getting it back via spinning affair, and he pounds a succession of backhands through the next point, until Murray errs long. Then, he crashes a forehand into the top of the net after Dimitrov’s backhand slice forces him to supply all the pace, and moments later, it’s 3-0.
9.58am GMT
Dimitrov 2-0 Murray* Murray begins by complaining about Spidercam, still moving as he prepares to serve, and then Dimitrov is straight into the rally - they exchange punishing ground strokes, then he really leans into a backhand down the line. Murray runs it down, but leaves the court open for a forehand, also drilled down the line. Then, after Murray pulls back the advantage, Dimitrov is again too powerful in the rally; much more of this, and he’ll have to step back a yard or two. Then, Murray goes long with a forehand, then long again, and that’s a break; Dimitrov has started superbly.
9.54am GMT
*Dimitrov 1-0 Murray (* denotes server) Dimitrov starts well, a swinging serve sending Murray out wide to facilitate a clean-up forehand, hammered into the opposite corner. Dimitrov has been told by his coach to entertain, and he looks primed for precisely that, playing another perfect point to reach 30. But there follows a double-fault, and ten the first flash of Murray, a brilliant backhand slice zoning over the net, and forcing a drop-shot on the stretch. Then, another well-played point by Dimitrov, to complete the love game.
9.51am GMT
Talking of cool tennisers, Dimitrov beat Baghdatis in the last round, in five sets. He is an excellent specimen of human.
9.49am GMT
Murray has won the toss, and will receive.
9.49am GMT
Andy Murray has reached the quarter-finals of the last 15 slams. That’s pretty handy consistency, on the one hand - but, on the other, his tally of finals suggests room for improvement, perhaps in his ability to beat other excellent players when not at his best. Or being at his best more often. But would it then count as his best? Philosophy, there.
9.44am GMT
Knocking up: get rid, yes?
9.42am GMT
The players are out, the crowd are, er, amped. Here we go. Something about Rabbie Burns.
9.41am GMT
“What makes a major a major, though?” asks Will Hardy on Twitter. “How do you ‘add another one?’”
Yeah, its tricky. Obviously it’s tricky to invent tradition, but that’s how it all arose in the first place. I suppose you’d just have to anoint it and treat it as such, and hope.
9.39am GMT
The chaps inside and outside the studio reckon Dimitrov will be the next big star, but that Murray will win today. And it’s possible, for the next few seasons, that Murray-Djokovic will be the next big rivalry. It’s not materialised as seemed inevitable a couple of years ago, but Murray might just be ready to reassert.
9.36am GMT
Mats Wilander is obscenely cool; his comfort is his own skin is quite revolting.
9.33am GMT
Simona Halep has beaten Yanina Wickmeyer in straight sets, so Murray and Dimitrov will be shortly upon us. Elsewhere, Nick Kyrgios has won the third set, to trail Andreas Seppi 2-1; the winner meets the winner of this.
9.31am GMT
It doesn’t seem a whole lot of fun, being a tenniser. Shlepping round the world, repeating drills, staying brutally fit, success of a season determined, more or less, by what happens in eight weeks out of, maybe, 48. As with golf, what’s to stop them adding another major?
9.17am GMT
In general terms, other people are the bane of the human experience, but specifically, there’s nothing worse than having to meet new ones. Of course, it’s usually possible to deduce everything about them from their name, and if not, their appearance, but where pre-emptive and preventative action fails, instead of frittering precious alone time getting to know them, simply ask this: what do you think of Andy Murray?
Because, despite his talent, brain, disdain and disrespect - what you might call attitude - attitude towards him is frequently disparaging. Yes, his achievements now demand acknowledgement, but he’s still putting up with plenty of the same nonsense in every other aspect.
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