Murray Wins Historic Night Match at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England – Andy Murray had to play later than anyone ever had in Wimbledon's long history — and indoors to boot — before overcoming Stanislas Wawrinka in a five-set match Monday that continued long after darkness set over the All England Club.

The third-seeded Murray won the first match contested entirely under Centre Court's new roof 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, converting his first match point at about 10:40 p.m.

Murray sent a forehand winner out of his Swiss opponent's reach to set off a thunderous cheer inside Centre Court that echoed from the white canvassed roof covering the lawn.

Murray broke for a 2-0 lead in the fifth set under the floodlights, but his Swiss opponent broke back for 3-2 and then held to even the decider. But Murray went ahead for good by converting his third break point for a 5-3 lead with a forehand winner down the line and then served out the match.

Murray will next play Juan-Carlos Ferrero as he bids to become the first Briton since Fred Perry in 1936 to win the grass-court Grand Slam.

The new roof had closed for the first time during play earlier Monday, during the second set of top-ranked Dinara Safina's win over Amelie Mauresmo.

Safina rallied to win that match 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

In the first Centre Court match of the day, Roger Federer improved to 11-0 against Soderling, including a victory in the French Open final to complete a career Grand Slam three weeks ago.

This time the No. 2-seeded Federer came through on a handful of key points. He earned the only service break of the match in the ninth game of the opening set, when Soderling committed five unforced errors to fall behind for good, 5-4.

Soderling led in the final tiebreaker but double-faulted on the next-to-last point, then hit an errant return.

"Today was hard to get through, a really dangerous match," Federer said. "Not many rallies, so maybe not as much fun for the people. But I stayed calm, waited for my chance."

With all 16 fourth-round matches scheduled, the Williams sisters remained on course to play an all-family final for the second year in a row.

Five-time champion Venus led 6-1, 0-1 when Ana Ivanovic retired with a left thigh injury. Two-time champion Serena beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1. Venus beat Serena in last year's final.

American 17-year-old Melanie Oudin's surprising run ended when she lost to No. 11-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-4, 7-5.

In men's play, No. 4 Novak Djokovic broke serve seven times and beat Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-4, 6-1. No. 22 Ivo Karlovic hit 35 aces and beat No. 7 Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (9). The 6-foot-10 Karlovic, who has yet to lose his serve in four matches, will face Federer on Wednesday.

No. 6-seeded Andy Roddick hit 24 aces, never faced a break point and defeated No. 20 Tomas Berdych 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3.

"I'm having so much fun," said Roddick, a two-time runner-up to Federer. "I love playing here. It really is an honor, and that's something that is never lost on me."

Roddick's opponent Wednesday will be 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt, who rallied from a two-set deficit for the sixth time in his career to beat No. 23 Radek Stepanek, 4-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.

On the hottest day of the tournament, the temperature reached 87 degrees (31 Celsius) on Centre Court before the rain arrived. The roof, built to ensure continuous play on the most famous court in tennis, wasn't needed during the first week of the tournament.

When the roof closed, many spectators responded with a standing ovation. Safina liked the new environment, too.

"It was great," she said. "Very nice. You can't compare it with anything. It's a really nice atmosphere, especially with the crowd, because it's getting like louder so it's even nicer to play. I mean, I won, so everything was perfect."

The first shot indoors at Wimbledon was a backhand winner by Safina. Coincidentally, play resumed on the outer courts at about the same time after the rain stopped.

Federer needs three more victories this week for his 15th major title, which would break the record he shares with Pete Sampras. Federer doesn't have to worry about defending champion Rafael Nadal, who missed the tournament with bad knees.

An injury ended Ivanovic's Wimbledon, too. She said she hurt her thigh hitting an ace to erase a break point in the opening game of the second set.

"I didn't feel anything up until that point," she said. "When I landed, I just felt a sharp pain on my inner thigh, and I couldn't step on my leg ever since."

She took a 10-minute break during the first game of the second set to have her left thigh taped by a trainer. She returned for two more points, but after hitting a service winner to take the game, she began crying as she walked to her chair and told the umpire she was retiring.

Then she hugged a sympathetic Williams.

"This is Wimbledon. It's the last place you want to have an injury that you can't overcome," Williams said. "So I'm wishing her a lot of luck in her recovery."

No. 3-seeded Venus dominated from the start, taking a 5-0 lead before Ivanovic finally won a game 27 minutes into the match. Venus came into the match having won 29 consecutive sets at Wimbledon, the longest such streak since Martina Navratilova won 40 in a row in 1982-85.

No. 8-ranked Victoria Azarenka beat No. 10 Nadia Petrova 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3, and she'll face Serena Williams on Tuesday.

Sabine Lisicki beat No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-4, and No. 4 Elena Dementieva eliminated fellow Russian Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-3.