Andy Murray rode the dramatic wave of emotion generated under Wimbledon’s new roof to make instant history.

His latest victory also kept alive his dreams of recording even more next Sunday.

In the latest Wimbledon finish in Wimbledon history, 10.38pm, and with the famous hill still packed but in total darkness, the Scot needed the assistance of a partisan crowd and some raucous support from his mum Judy to defeat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 2-6 6-3 6-3 5-7 6-3.

It was the spectacular dogfight Wimbledon 2009 had been yearning for, three hours and 57 minutes of stomach-churning tension which was validation of the All England Club’s decision to spend £100m or so on their new roof.

At the end Murray fell to his knees and admitted: “It’s great to have come through. I believe I can win Wimbledon, that has not changed. I have to play great tennis to do it and I had to play great tennis to come back tonight.”

He then went on to criticise Wimbledon’s decision to play the match under the roof, which had been put to its first competitive use when showers halted the previous match between Dinara Safin and Amelie Mauresmo.

When Murray took to the court with Wawrinka the weather was dry and Murray said: “It’s tough when you’re warming up, getting ready for the match outside and it’s dry and then get told you’re playing under the roof.

“The decision should be made before that match (Safina’s) is finished so they can let the players know in a decent amount of time what conditions they are going to be playing under

“In very few sports would coaches and teams be particularly happy if they don’t know exactly what time they’re going to kick off or what the conditions are going to be like when they go out there.

“When you haven’t experienced something before it is tough to know how it’s going to play. There is quite a big difference.”

Murray blamed the humid conditions for the way he struggled on his serve, saying: “We were sweating so much. Both of us were trying to get white towels because your hands were drenched. When I finished it was like I had been in a bath. It slowed things down a lot and I struggled to serve because it wasn’t coming off the strings that quickly.

“I like playing indoors but when you have not practised or ever played a match under a roof on grass you don’t know what to expect. For two and an half sets I played great tennis, it just took me a while to get used to it.”

At times it looked as if the roof was about to fall in on Murray’s quest to become the first Briton to lift the men’s singles in 73 years as he ran into a man in Wawrinka playing the tennis of his life.

How did Murray survive?

Sheer guts and determination. Plus a burning desire not to let down a Centre Court crowd who willed him across the finish line in the way they used to carry Tim Henman in his hours of need in SW19.

Murray now faces wild card Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarter finals and his fans can only hope he has not been too drained physically and mentally by such a momentous encounter.

It was all the more creditable because Murray could not have started more poorly, losing the opening game on serve and the opening set to a Wawrinka who belied his world ranking of 18.

Wawrinka’s backhand winners are as stunning as any shot in the game, including any of his compatriot Roger Federer, with whom he won the doubles gold medal in the Beijing Olympics.

And he pulverised Murray in that first set when the Scot appeared to have been unnerved by the indoor conditions as well as the brilliance of a man who has become one of his great pals as well as a regular practice partner.

There were several pivotal moments.

First, in the second set when Murray produced a brilliant running forehand to salvage a game he might well have lost, after which Murray pumped his fists, the crowd at last got to the heart of the action and mum Judy all but vaulted the barrier in front of Centre Court.

Second, in the sixth game of the third set when Murray saved three break points with crashing winners off both backhand and forehand to gain a crucial momentum swing.

The fourth set was a tense struggle, full of heavy hitting, but it was Wawrinka who dug in to gain the only break in the 11th game.

And so it went to a fifth in which Murray raced to a 3-0 lead, coming back from 40-love down to break the Wawrinka serve.

Cue sigh of relief. Too soon. Again Wawrinka squared things up and by then they were more like heavyweight boxers out on their feet than tennis players

Weary as he was, however, Murray conjured up one last effort to break the Wawrinka serve once more in the eighth game to clinch a famous victory.

Murray said: “At the end it was probably the noisiest crowd I’ve played in front of. It definitely sounds and feels much louder with the roof. The support is great.”

It was the understatement of the night.

Roger Federer has backed Andy Murray to be a “great grass champion” in future as the pair gear up for Wimbledon.

With defending champion Rafael Nadal forced to pull out of the championships through injury, Federer and Murray are now seeded to meet each other in the final at the All England Club on July 5.

And five-time Wimbledon champion Federer is wary of the threat posed by the 22-year-old Scot.

The Swiss told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme: “He has the double-handed back-hand, very unusual, he’s a great double-hander, he moves very well for how tall he is… He’ll be a great grass champion for the future.

“He’s definitely got a good chance (at Wimbledon).”

Murray is one of the few players with a winning record against Federer, leading their head-to-head clashes 6-2, including victory in their last four meetings.

Federer has won when it really matters, but reckons Murray has learned to handle dealing with pressure.

“When it came down to the crunch we’ve played two times in finals he played very well but I was able to beat him, prior to finals he’s beaten me,” said the 27-year-old.

“I don’t want to make excuses but he played me at a time when I had back problems (which) made it hard for me to call on my best performance level.

“He played me the right way and was very successful. He’s a great tactician, I like to watch him play - he’s a very tough challenge.

“I thought he handled the pressure very well last year. He also handled it in Queen’s.”

Murray comes into Wimbledon on the back of his first tournament victory on grass in the AEGON Championships at Queen’s Club, and reached the quarter-finals here last year before losing to Nadal.

Federer added: “I know Queen’s is not Wimbledon but I think he takes these things pretty relaxed.

“I think he’s become such a good player now it’s not going to affect him much and if it does it affects him in a good way.”

Andy Murray admitted he was left helpless by Fernando Gonzalez’s booming forehand during his loss to the Chilean.

Murray was bidding to become only the second British man in the Open era, after Tim Henman, to reach the last four at Roland Garros but he ran out of steam, 12th seed Gonzalez powering his way to a 6-3 3-6 6-0 6-4 win today.

The naturally-attacking Gonzalez can blow hot and cold but today was one of his better days. He hit 45 winners to steamroller the third seed on a sun-kissed Philippe Chatrier court.

Murray held his hands up, acknowledging the man who he claims has the biggest forehand in tennis deserved the victory.

“No-one’s hit the ball that big. If that happens, sometimes you’ve got to say, ‘too good’,” the Scot said.

“If you look at some of the shots he’s hit, he’s hitting forehands from a metre wide of the tramlines on some points - and hitting winners off them.

“Even if you try to hit a ball to his backhand, he runs around and spanks a winner. You can’t do a whole lot about that.”

Gonzalez, a boys’ singles winner here in 1998, admitted everything went right today.

“I was playing at a really high level. I took every chance that he gave me,” the 28-year-old said.

“I managed to win the third set very easily and that gave me a lot of confidence for the rest of the match.

“On the attack, I always try to hit and have no fear. I just go for it. I have great pleasure hitting the ball hard.

“Some days I can miss but I know that if I have to win a big match, I have to perform on that (forehand) side.”

If Gonzalez - a winner of eight clay-court tournaments so far in his career - continues to find his range with his forehand, he will be difficult to beat.

But then so will 23rd seed Robin Soderling, the Chilean’s opponent in the semi-finals.

The Swede, who dumped out top seed and reigning champion Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, continued his amazing Roland Garros journey by sweeping aside previously in-form 10th seed Nikolay Davydenko.

Soderling won 6-1 6-3 6-1 in an hour and 41 minutes on Suzanne Lenglen court.

“I have to say it was a little tougher than the score suggests,” said the 24-year-old, who has also beaten 14th seed David Ferrer this tournament.

“I always knew I could play really, really good tennis when I’m on top of my game. I just needed to tell myself not to lose concentration.”

Soderling also revealed he had received a congratulatory text off compatriot Bjorn Borg after his win over Nadal, who last year equalled the legendary Swede’s record of four straight Roland Garros titles.

“He said, ‘Congratulations, and thank you for not letting Nadal break my record’. I think he will be down here tomorrow,” Soderling added.

“It was very big for me to receive a text from him. The funny thing is, I also got a lot of texts from people I don’t even know!”

It was a disappointing way for Davydenko to celebrate his 28th birthday.

The Russian, formidable against eighth seed Fernando Verdasco in round four, was understandably unhappy to have picked up only five games in three sets against an opponent he would have been expected to overcome at the start of the tournament.

“I didn’t have my best game and that’s surprising,” he said.

“Maybe his tennis is too fast for me. He had very good control from the baseline.”

Davydenko denied he had got ahead of himself and contemplated a place in the final.

“I was not thinking about the semi-final or final,” he said. “Okay, it was not Nadal or (Novak) Djokovic I was playing, but Soderling played well.”

Andy Murray will launch his latest bid to win his first grand slam title with a first-round match against Juan Ignacio Chela at the French Open.

Argentina’s Chela, a clay-court specialist, reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in 2004 but has not progressed past the second round since then.

Given third-seed Murray has shown signs of improvement on clay in 2009, he will be favourite to progress to a second-round meeting with either Germany’s Mischa Zverev or Potito Starace of Italy.

The first seeded player the British number one could meet is Feliciano Lopez, the 28th seed from Spain, in the third round.

Murray has won three of his previous four meetings against Chela, although none of those clashes were on clay.

Their last match-up was in Madrid - which was then a hard-court event - in 2007 with Murray a comfortable 6-1 6-3 victor.

Rafael Nadal, the reigning four-time champion here, is again the player to beat this year and the top seed from Spain will open his campaign with a first-round match against an as-yet-unknown qualifier.

The winner of the tie between Russian pair Igor Kunitsyn and Teimuraz Gabashvili should play Nadal in round two.

Roger Federer, the second seed, beat Nadal in Madrid last week but has yet to claim the title at Roland Garros, losing to the Mallorcan on his last four visits here.

The Swiss opens up against Spain’s Alberto Martin while fourth seed Novak Djokovic starts up against Nicolas Lapentti.

The best-looking matches elsewhere in the draw see Ivan Ljubicic take on 2003 winner Juan Carlos Ferrero and 26th seed Ivo Karlovic meet Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt, the former world number one.

Juan Monaco, a winner against Murray in Rome recently, was being seen as a dangerous floater in a draw and he landed a plum first-round tie against Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open runner-up.

On the women’s side British number one Anne Keothavong was handed a shocking draw after being paired with top seed Dinara Safina on Friday.

Keothavong, who is ranked 56th in the world, can at least claim to be in confident mood going into Roland Garros after reaching the semi-finals of the Warsaw Open - the first time a British woman has reached the last four of a clay-court event for 26 years. The 25-year-old will meet Alona Bondarenko for a place in the final.

Her improvement on clay will be tested again next week when she meets Russian Safina, the top player in the world.

Melanie South will play an as-yet-unknown qualifier, and she may be joined in the draw by another Briton, Elena Baltacha. Katie O’Brien failed to make it out of qualifying.

Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic, seeded eight this year, will play Sara Errani of Italy first up and is in the same quarter of the draw as Safina.

Sisters Serena and Venus Williams are in opposite sides of the draw, meaning they could only meet each other in the final.

Second seed and 2002 champion Serena, has a first-round tie against the Czech Republic’s Klara Zakopalova while Venus takes on fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Fourth seed Elena Dementieva opens up against a qualifier and fifth seed Jelena Jankovic, of Serbia, comes up first against Petra Cetkovska.

Andy Murray may have lost at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome but he is confident his clay-court game is improving.

After receiving a first-round bye, Murray fell to qualifier Juan Monaco of Argentina in the second round of the singles, 48 hours after he had lost in the doubles.

Murray raced into a one-set lead, but Monaco then raised his game to triumph 1-6 6-3 7-5.

“It came down to a few points here and there,” a philosophical Murray said. “I didn’t think I hit the ball as clean as I did in Monte Carlo.”

Yesterday’s defeat was Murray’s earliest exit at an event since the Beijing Olympics, but the Scot was keen to focus on the positives.

“I’ve had a great eight months,” Murray said. “I haven’t lost early for a long time. I knew it was going to happen some time and it has.”

Murray’s advisor Alex Corretja, a former clay-court specialist himself, had predicted the Brit would be in for a tough contest.

And although the Spaniard was proved right, Murray feels his clay-court game is progressing.

“I am playing much better on clay with respect to last year,” Murray said. “(I need to) work hard to get ready for Madrid.”

Murray won the Masters Series event in Madrid last year.

The 21-year-old had faced Monaco once before, in Miami earlier this year, but that match was played on a hard court.

And Monaco felt he was always going to have the advantage on the clay.

“In Miami we played a great game and it was very intense. Andy played very well and he served really well that day,” Monaco said.

“But I knew my play was going to be better than in Miami. I knew I had an advantage because I really like playing on clay.”

Pat Cash believes Andy Murray has what it takes to become the first Brit since Fred Perry to win a grand slam.

Australian Cash, who won the title in 1987, admits he would be “surprised” if the young Scot did not win a grand slam at some point and believes the home advantage of Wimbledon represents his best opportunity.

World number four Murray, 21, reached the quarter-finals in London last year and only lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in the last eight.

While he has yet to go all the way, Cash believes Murray can finally deliver after previous British number ones Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski came up short.

Cash told PA Sport: “I’d be surprised if he didn’t win a grand slam, for sure. You never know with injuries but, if it all goes to plan physically, I’d be surprised if he didn’t do it in the next couple of years.

“It is a huge advantage at Wimbledon to have all of that crowd cheering for you - give me that any day over the crowd cheering against you!

“He is getting close already to a grand slam and Wimbledon will be an extra boost with the home crowd.”

Rusedski was a US Open runner-up while Henman was a semi-finalist at three of the four majors, but Cash firmly believes Murray can finally answer the call of British tennis fans.

“I think most of those guys had just about everything but didn’t quite have everything - and Andy does,” the Australian continued.

“He’s mentally tough, physically tough, he’s very quick, he’s got the game, technique and know-how around the court.

“Most of the other guys - Henman, Rusedski, even guys like Jeremy Bates, who was a top-30 player - they had almost everything but didn’t quite have the full package. And that is the difference, Andy has everything and he continues to develop.”

Murray is known for his aggressive streak, but Cash believes nastiness is not an essential element.

“I don’t think you necessarily need it but I think it helps to have some fire in the belly,” he added.

“Some of the nicest guys in the world are champions but the majority of champions have got some real aggression and fire in the belly. If you go out there and you compete day in, day out, it’s not easy.”

Andy Murray began his clay-court season with a straight-sets win over Romania’s Victor Hanescu in the Monte-Carlo Masters.

Murray overcame a sluggish start to win 6-3 6-2 in one hour and 25 minutes to book his place in the third round.

The fourth seed was broken twice in succession in the opening set as the first four games all went against the serve, but eventually gained control of the match to continue his impressive season so far.

“I’m very happy with it,” Murray said when asked about his performance.

“The start was tough, he played a few good shots and broke me a couple of times but I’m happy with the way I moved.

“I was getting good shape on my shots and didn’t make too many mistakes. I could have served a little better but apart from that I’m very happy.”

Murray confirmed his status as the form player of 2009 by beating Novak Djokovic in the final of the Miami Masters 10 days ago to clinch his third title of the season and the biggest of his career so far.

The Scot has so far struggled to match his success on hard courts and grass on clay, failing even to reach the quarter-finals in any event last year.

But the 21-year-old feels today’s win will help him rediscover the different type of movement needed on the game’s slowest surface.

“It’s just practice, you need to let it happen,” Murray added on Sky Sports 1.

“It’s easy on clay when the ball is out wide to panic a little bit but you cut the corners much better if you slide into the shot.

“The top players do that very well and I’ve been working on that the last few days.”

Hanescu gave Murray a taste of his own medicine with a couple of superb drop shots in the early stages as the match began with a flurry of service breaks.

But once Murray became the first man to hold serve and broke again to lead 4-2, there was only going to be one winner.

Home fans were handed a double disappointment on day three with both Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon making early exits.

Ninth seed Monfils was thrashed 6-3 6-1 by Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic in their first round encounter while Simon, seeded number six, lost his second round match with German qualifier Andreas Beck 7-5 6-1.

Sixteenth seed Nicolas Almagro was also beaten, 7-6 (8/6) 4-6 7-6 (7/5) by Albert Montanes, but Argentina’s David Nalbandian avoided an upset after seeing off Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4 3-6 6-3.

World No.4 Andy Murray’s desire to represent Great Britain will not be diminished by their recent fall from grace.

This weekend’s Davis Cup defeat to Ukraine, Britain’s third straight loss in the competition, means John Lloyd’s team face another year outside the elite World Group.

And should they fail to beat Poland in a Euro/Africa Zone Group One play-off in September, they will find themselves in the third tier of the competition.

Murray’s absence with a virus from this weekend’s tie at Glasgow’s Braehead Arena proved once and for all that Britain simply do not possess the strength in depth to cope without him.

Captain Lloyd also admitted that even with the world number four on board, his team were not certain to record the three straight victories needed to return to the World Group.

Murray could be forgiven therefore for losing his enthusiasm for the competition.

But Hutchins, who partnered Colin Fleming to doubles defeat on Saturday, said: “He’s keen to play, that’s for sure. He loves playing for his country.

“I saw him last week; he wasn’t well. And he will be back to play.

“People always say ’selfish’ and all this stuff.

“But if he was fit, he would’ve played this tie and I think he wants to play the next tie.

“There’s no doubt in my mind he’s a good guy to have around in the team.”

On the evidence of this weekend’s tie, which Ukraine won with a day to spare, Britain need Murray just to survive in Euro/Africa Zone Group One.

The team contained three rookies, only one of whom - local boy Fleming - appeared to have what it takes to compete at this level.

But Lloyd believes even fellow debutants Josh Goodall and Chris Eaton, ranked 192 and 383 respectively, could be capable of winning rubbers in the future.

He said: “Our job, and all the guys here with the experiences they’ve had, is to take the level up a notch so that we can grind some of these matches out.”

To give them the best chance of doing so, Lloyd must surely abandon his policy of setting up courts to Murray’s specifications and instead tailor them to suit his weaker players.

A fit and firing Murray would have cruised past the likes of Sergiy Stakhovsky and Illya Marchenko on any surface, while Goodall and Eaton were handicapped by the slow court at Braehead.

When challenged on this point, Lloyd said: “You can look at it that way.

“You’d be nuts not to discuss it and talk about it with your number one player.

“It wasn’t like he said, ‘It’s either that or I’m not playing’.

“He felt that was the best chance to win the three rubbers and I respected that.

“I thought that was the way to go.”

Lloyd did hint that the choice of surface against Poland would take into account the needs of the team as a whole.

“I’m not really concerned about Poland at home wherever we play,” he said.

“But we have to think of the other members of the team as well and how we’re going to get a result.”

Ukraine number one Stakhovsky put some of the blame for Britain’s quickfire defeat this weekend down to their selection policy.

He said the visitors were buoyed by Lloyd’s decision to hold play-offs to determine places on his team instead of automatically picking British number two Alex Bogdanovic, who has lost seven of the eight rubbers he has played in the competition.

Lloyd stood by his play-off experiment, but added: “I really hope, to be honest, that all of the guys here will push far enough up the rankings so that we don’t have to do the play-offs.”