Santoro 3-4 Murray
When Fab wanders in, Murray's happy drilling dippers past him on either side. But when the rallies linger, Fab's cunning comes to the fore. Murray engineers break point with a crisp backhand volley but then gets drawn in a 25-shot pat-a-cake exchange that ends with a passing-shot that flies wide. Fab's second double-fault sets up another, a fine volley off his trainers' tongues saves it, a Murray ripper wide opens another glimmer and a lovely backhand cross-court service return finally snatches the break back. Murray barks a gruff "YES!" and strides to his chair with righteous purpose.

Santoro 3-3 Murray
Ouch - a blonde line-judge bends to avoid a Murray ace down the middle and clocks it bang on the bonce. The ball rebounds into the crowd, and the judge resumes her position without so much as a gasp. Murray looks to be cruising at 30-15 but loses concentration and slaps a simple backhand into the net. When he misses with drop-shot no.6 - I underestimated badly earlier on - Santoro has his break back. Entertaining battle, this one.

Santoro 2-3 Murray
Lovely running forehand cross-court dipper from Fab to hold with Gallic flair. In the VIP slots, Murray's ladyfriend Kim Sears is hiding moodily behind oversize Aviators, not a look Lucy Henman ever attempted.

Santoro 1-3 Murray
It's a little like watching a late-evening veteran doubles, this - all sliced drop-shots, ambitious lobs and forehand flourishes. Murray tosses in droppers four and five and holds to build the gap.

Santoro 1-2 Murray
Super conjuring from The Magician - Murray threads a running backhand over the tape to work a break point but loses it to a wonderful forehand lob that flies high before swooping low like a swallow. Santoro is so relaxed that he's got his hands in his pockets as the ball lands in. Murray passes him again as the old stager trundles to the net, and a crowd-pleaser of a forehand lob steals the first break of the match.

Santoro 1-1 Murray
First drop-shot from Murray, and a solid hold. Let's have a sweep on the number he tries this evening - I'll plump for a round 20.

"When it comes tennis & Britain, we have no choice but to put all our eggs in one basket. Come on Andy! Bring it home laddie!" From Ryan NW on text

Santoro 1-0 Murray
Lovely backhand top-spin lob from Fabrice to take his first service game. If you haven't seen Santoro before, he plays double-handed on both sides. In fact, if you haven't seen Santoro before, you need to get your cheeks in gear - he's 35 now, and the only man older than him in the draw is Jonas Bjorkman, who's just announced his retirement.

1722: Murray arrives, hair as curly-large as mid-period John McEnroe. Sadly for him, Centre Court is half-empty - the conveniences on the upper level are rammed after well-hydrated fans dashed out after the conclusion of the Nadal master-class.

1720: What do you mean, you're off home to watch it on the telly?

(BBC)

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