It was the British player’s longest match, lasting five hours and 45 minutes, in an illustrious career marked by comebacks both on and off the court

When Andy Murray yelled during his spectacular five-set win at the Australian Open, he was expressing what many others were thinking: “Why are we playing at 3am?!” Even for the former world number one, the 35-year-old Briton with the metal hip who has built a career of stunning comebacks, this was a bit much. It took the three-time Grand Slam winner till 4:05 in the morning on Friday in Melbourne to defeat Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round.