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Murray wins under Wimbledon roof

Jun 29 2009

Andy Murray has reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals after the new Centre Court roof was closed during a match for the first time.

Murray beat Stanislas Wawrinka, of Switzerland, 2-6 6-3 6-3 5-7 6-3 to earn a quarter-final encounter against Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain.

Rain came down in south-west London midway through the previous game between Dinara Safina and Amelie Mauresmo on the hottest day of the year so far.

A team of 17 pulled the one-tonne covers across the court and a four minutes later the lights went on before the state-of-the-art roof began to edge forward.

It took seven minutes for the roof to shut and, as it moved out across the court, there was a slow wave of closing umbrellas.

The noise in the 15,000-capacity stadium reached a climax as the two sides of the roof met in the middle, blocking out the final squealing sound of the machinery.

An announcement came over the speakers: "Because of the current weather situation, the referee has decided to close the Centre Court roof. Play is likely to resume in 20-30 minutes."

When play resumed Miss Safina of Russia, the top seed, won the fourth round match against Miss Mauresmo 4-6 6-3 6-4.

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