Tennis-Wimbledon-Murray downs Wawrinka in floodlit thriller

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Britain's Andy Murray needed all his resilience under a roof-covered, floodlit Centre Court to beat Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 2-6 6-3 6-3 5-7 6-3 for a place in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon on Monday.

The British crowd thought the days of end-of-day nailbiters had gone with the retirement of Tim Henman, but the 22-year-old Scot put his fans through a nerve-wracking evening before booking his place in the last eight for the second year in a row. In a match played with the Centre Court roof closed due to fears of thunderstorm interruptions, Wawrinka got off to a flier by surging to a 4-0 lead before sealing the opener in 34 minutes.

Third seed Murray levelled the match before a key break in game seven helped him to the third set and appeared to hand him the momentum before Wawrinka again refused to lie down and took it to a decider.

Murray broke in game eight of the fifth set and then held serve in front of an ecstatic crowd and now faces Spanish wildcard Juan Carlos Ferrero for a place in the semi-finals.

(Editing by Miles Evans. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)