Andy Murray’s hopes of a fine Wimbledon victory on the 10th anniversary of his 2013 title win were ended by fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in round two.
Stalled by Wimbledon’s 11pm curfew on Thursday, the Briton lost 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (2-7) 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 on Friday.
Shortly before Murray’s loss, British number one Cameron Norrie fell 3-6 6-3 2-6 6-7 (3-7) to Christopher Eubanks.
British number five Liam Broady lost 4-6 6-2 7-5 7-5 to Canadian 26th seed Denis Shapovalov in the third round.
Defeats for the trio ended British interest in the men’s draw and dampened the spirits of the home fans at the All England Club.
Their exits leave British women’s number one Katie Boulter as the only remaining home player in the singles.
On Saturday, Boulter has the chance to reach the fourth round for the first time when she plays defending champion Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
Murray pushes one of the best but falls agonisingly short
Murray is a two-time champion at Wimbledon, having also won in 2016, and had talked positively about his chances of going deep in the draw.
A poor performance at Queen’s in the build-up to the tournament saw him miss out on a seeding, leaving him vulnerable to a tough test early on.
Even after the draw threw up the possibility of facing 24-year-old Tsitsipas, Murray insisted he had the ability and nous to cause anybody problems on the SW19 grass.
Against one of the top players in the men’s game, he was proven correct.
On Thursday, Murray grew into a contest played indoors under the floodlights and moved ahead just before the match was halted at 22:39 BST.
Unlike the other Grand Slams, Wimbledon has a 23:00 curfew which has been imposed by the local council.
The end of the set felt like the natural moment to pause, coming at a time which seemed to suit both players.
When they returned, now playing outdoors on a hot summer afternoon, the pair continued to dominate on serve.
However, at 4-4 15-30, Murray missed a chance to challenge a line call which would have been successfully overturned and could have altered the trajectory of the match.
There was a sense of inevitability that the set would go to the tie-break and, when it did, Tsitsipas kept his composure to clinically level.
Underneath bright skies, the mood further darkened among the home fans at the start of the decider.
Murray’s serve came under severe pressure in the third game. A slice into the net by the Scot was followed by a beautifully-judged lob from Tsitsipas, before a double fault created three break opportunities.
Murray was able to save two of them, but a forehand into the net handed over an advantage from which he could not recover.
The level of performance Tsitsipas was forced to find in order to advance – and register by far his best win of the grass-court season on a tricky surface – was testament to Murray’s challenge.
Murray waved goodbye as he received a standing ovation from Centre Court and, though he knows there will not be many opportunities to play there again in the future, he showed he is far from done.
Overnight break ‘didn’t help’ Tsitsipas
Which player would benefit from the overnight break – Murray after a painful looking fall, or Tsitsipas after momentum swung away from him – was debatable.
The delay did provide the opportunity for the romantics to dream.
Murray returned on Friday aiming to earn his biggest win by ranking since the 2013 final, 10 years to the day and at the scene of the defining moment of his career.
The realists felt the pause might suit Tsitsipas better – and were vindicated.
The 2021 French Open finalist and 2023 Australian Open runner-up produced another serving masterclass, like he did in the first two sets on Thursday, and did not face a break point as he turned around the deficit.
Asked if the 18-hour gap benefitted him, Tsitsipas said: “It did not help me that much. You are dealing with a lot of things.
“You are dealing with Andy Murray at the other side of the net. He can make it a marathon and I had to work extra hard.
“My legs are sore – he made me run left and right, up and down for how many hours.”
Norrie and Broady out as British men’s hopes end
Norrie, 27, reached the Wimbledon semi-finals last year but his bid to replicate that run came unstuck against an inspired Eubanks.
On Court One, 12th seed Norrie struggled to make a dent on the American’s serve and lost four of the 13 break points he faced.
Eubanks described grass as the “stupidest surface” in a text exchange with former women’s world number one Kim Clijsters earlier this summer, but won an ATP title in Mallorca last week after receiving advice from the Belgian.
The world number 50 looked confident from the start against Norrie, who said he could not cope with his opponent hitting “absolute rockets”.
“I got outplayed. I couldn’t really get into the match how I wanted. He came out and was hitting the ball huge, he didn’t miss at all,” Norrie added.
Wildcard Broady, 29, was unable to follow up the biggest win of his career as he lost to 2021 semi-finalist Shapovalov.
The world number 142 stunned Norwegian fourth seed Casper Ruud in the second round, but could not produce another memorable result as his impressive run – which generated a useful payday of £131,000 – ended.
