Andy Murray Edges Past Stanislas Wawrinka in a Historic Match

15,000 Brits roaring in Center Court with an insatiable desire to see their sole hope, Andy Murray, through to his second quarterfinal at his Home Slam were caught unawares by the storm Murray would have to weather through, the grave danger making its presence felt, the crouching tiger named Stanislas Wawrinka hiding behind the bushes, ready to pounce on Murray.

In a historic match on Center Court at Wimbledon, which began and ended under the lights of the newly-built retractable roof, Wawrinka made his intentions clear—spoil Murray’s blemish-free script at Wimbledon and to send a shiver down the spine of those inside the hallowed court and the thousands perched on Henman Hill.

The result was a riveting match, a match replete with grace and finesse, sublime and stupendous tennis—the ingredients to make it a memorable drama, which the Scot won 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in three hours and 57 minutes.

World No.18 Stanislas Wawrinka who won the Olympic Doubles gold partnering his more famous compatriot, Roger Federer, seemed to imbibe some of the wondrous qualities from the legend.

And his decision to play at a claycourt challenger event before the Wimbledon did not intimidate him from making this superb challenge.

In their first-ever encounter on the lustrous green grass, the Swiss raced off to a flying start, smashing the hopes of the partisan crowd including Hollywood star Evan McGregor as Murray was a double-break down.

Murray somehow managed to avoid the ignominy of being bagelled as a rampant Wawrinka did practically nothing wrong in the first set.

The contrast was pretty much noticeable as a hapless Murray searched desperately for the big serve and the scorching return in the face of the unputdownable Swiss whose single-handed backhand was pure elegance, forehand blazing and serve immaculate.

But the 22-year-old Dunblane native had made up his mind not to give in so easily.

Murray started making the necessary amends, running even better, hitting even harder, approaching the net even more, putting more of the brilliant angles and most importantly, bringing on the serves that were ruefully missing in the first set.

A magnificent running cross-court forehand by Andy to lead 3-2 in the second set after being double break-point down was good enough to gratify the crowd and send them into a frenzy.

Murray finally found the elusive ace to level the match and a cracking contest was on.

Chants of ‘’Andy Murray’’ from the raucous crowd became even louder as the momentum began shifting towards the world No.3 as Murray started to bring out weapons from his arsenal with brilliant lobs, incredible inside-out forehands and exhilarating touches at the net.

Wawrinka appeared to be draining out from the relentless pounding by the Scot and missed several opportunities, gifting the Scot the third set.

The fourth set was a searing battle of grit, determination and heavy-hitting and little could separate the two players until the resilience by the man from Lausanne eventually paid off.

Stanislas earned the rare break in the 11th game of the set to stretch the match to the decider.

In the ultimate set, Wawrinka wilted under pressure and fatigue to land Murray the first break as a joyous crowd screamed their lungs out.

Routine big serves coupled with amazing returns kept Murray in the driver’s seat but the drama was far from over.

Murray was broken back as a fighting Wawrinka still had enough gas left to claw his way back from 1-3 down to 3-3 with some glorious passes.

But his sheer will and spirit kept the visibly tired Scot going as he dug deep to break Wawrinka's serve once more which prompted even mother Judy to leap out of her seat.

Finally, after numerous Hawkeye challenges, an audacious Wawrinka finally bowed out, leaving an exhausted and relieved Murray down on his knees, head buried in his hands.

The clock showed the time to be 10.39 pm GMT—an unprecedented late-night finish at Wimbledon.

It was a true test of character and endurance for both men and Wawrinka, who narrowly missed out replicating Fernando Verdasco's feat at the Australian Open, had admiration from the Scot who rightly said, "I thought Stan played a great match, the standard he set at the start of the match was hard to keep up with.’’

Murray goes on to face Spanish wild card Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarterfinal whom he had earlier defeated at Queen's this year.

With sufficient rest after today’s match, Murray hopes to crack his first semifinal at Wimbledon with the now-boosted confidence after passing his biggest test so far at this year’s Wimbledon.