July 01, (THEWILL) – One of the memorable home favourites for the All-England Club competition Britain’s Andy Murray needed to dig deep and come up with a classic comeback after a roof-closing delay to overcome German wildcard Oscar Otte and reach the Wimbledon third round after a tense 6-3 4-6 4-6 6-4 6-2 five setter.
The 27-year-old Otte took control of the match and was on the brink of serving Murray an early second round exit in the fourth set of the Brit’s long-awaited return to SW19 only for the previously injury-ravaged Murray to delight the applauding crowds at Centre Court crowd by literally roaring back to victory.
There was a situation that was reminiscent of his first round triumph, where a moment of rest allowed Murray to reset. It came with the closing of the roof mid-match, after which he returned from the delay a different player with the steely focus on victory in his sights and the play to match.
Like many of the cast of players in this year’s Wimbledon, Murray slipped over on the increasingly notorious Centre Court turf on numerous occasions and shouted about the “dangerous” surface after sliding down yet again deep in the tense fifth set to another fall.
Fortunately, unlike Adrian Mannarino and Serena Williams before him, Murray was able to gather himself without significant harm and close out the match. The break for the roof to be closed on Centre Court certainly appeared to help give him a much-needed reset once again and Otte could not muster the necessary resistance late in the decider.
Next up for the 34-year-old is 10th seed, Canada’s Denis Shapovalov. The Canadian, who was afforded the luxury of a few days off after he benefited from a walkover in the second round, will be a threat to Murray, bigger than any he has faced so far at the All-England Club.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
