Wimbledon: Murray takes 2-1 lead vs. Tsitsipas as play halted

LONDON — Andy Murray‘s bid to reach the third round of Wimbledon was halted by a local council curfew with him holding a 2-1 lead against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The match will be completed on Friday, scheduled as the second match on Centre Court, not before 3 p.m. local time.

Murray has the overnight advantage against world No. 5 Tsitsipas after an epic clash on Centre Court with play suspended at 10.39 p.m., 21 minutes before the 11 p.m. Merton Council curfew.

This cutoff time for play on the two main courts at Wimbledon was agreed between the local council, residents and the All England Club when they installed the roof on Centre Court in 2009. Murray is leading 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 6-4.

There was drama right to the end with Murray falling to the ground in pain on set point in the third set, but he recovered to serve out and take the 2-1 overnight lead.

With Murray’s match against Tsitsipas third on Centre Court on Thursday, there was always a risk of it not being completed due to time restrictions.

Earlier in the day, fellow Brit Liam Broady defeated Casper Ruud in three hours and 28 minutes in a five-set epic, and then reigning champion Elena Rybakina saw off Alize Cornet in straight sets. This led to Murray’s match against Tsitsipas starting at 7.45 p.m.

Murray came into the match with a day’s more rest than his opponent after easing through his first round match against Brit Ryan Peniston on Tuesday. For Tsitsipas, his first-round match against Dominic Thiem started Tuesday but was completed late Wednesday because of rain delays.

But there were no signs of fatigue on Tsitsipas’ part despite the first-round match going to five sets.

The first set went the way of Tsitsipas, who took it 7-3 in the tiebreak, winning four straight points to close it out. Tsitsipas’ forehand was on point, coming to the fore in the big moments as part of an aggressive strategy to gate-crash Murray’s home comforts. Tsitsipas hitting 21 winners to Murray’s 11 told the story of the tight first set with the key mini-break in the tiebreak seeing him through.

The second set was much the same, in a match of cat-and-mouse. The tiebreak was needed to separate the two, with Murray capitalising on a slight drop in the usually pinpoint Tsitsipas forehand to force two…