Rio Olympics 2016: Andy Murray wins tennis singles gold in four-set thriller against Juan Martin del Potro and his rowdy Argentinian support
IT’S STILL Sunday in Rio and Andy Murray has made it even more super.
Murray retained his Olympic title to give Team GB a fifth gold medal of a simply astonishing day.
And the Wimbledon champion did it in suitably epic fashion, slugging it out with Juan Martin Del Potro for more than four hours before winning 7-5 4-6 6-2 7-5 in a match which had everything.
Including two Argentinian fans being escorted off court by soldiers in the final game.
Murray collapsed in tears after one of the most physically and mentally demanding matches of even his amazing career.
He is the first man or woman ever to retain an Olympic singles title and how he was made to earn it by the brave and brilliant Del Potro.
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The big Argentinian was running on pure emotion in front of a crowd packed with noisy countrymen.
But in the end, Murray outlasted his opponent just as his match had outrun the British day.
Twice Murray went a set ahead only to lose the first game of the next.
A truly extraordinary fourth set featured seven breaks of serve, including one when Del Potro was trying to take it into a fourth at 5-4.
That 10th game featured the most telling image of the match.
After Murray had brought up a break point by winning an extraordinary rally, Del Potro collapsed over the net like a punch-drunk boxer on the ropes.
He saved that one, but not the fourth of a titanic struggle.
Murray then saved two break points and at deuce in the 12th game, the two Argentinian fans were forced to leave.
Moments later, Murray took his second match point.
The long, lingering hug he and Del Potro exchanged at the net was touching, as were the chants of the Argentinians for their hero in defeat.
But Murray, as so often, was the last man standing.