Cilic marathon may help Murray

Andy Murray (pictured) is due back on court to face Marin Cilic
2 July 2012

Andy Murray is hoping he can be the beneficiary of Marin Cilic's marathon Saturday when the pair meet in the fourth round of Wimbledon.

Murray may have notched up the latest finish in Wimbledon history when he beat Marcos Baghdatis at 11.02pm on Saturday night, but the pair had been on court for only three hours and 13 minutes. That was a full two hours and 18 minutes less than Cilic took to defeat Sam Querrey, the Croatian eventually prevailing 17-15 in the fifth set.

It was the second longest match in Wimbledon history, and Murray appreciated what the knock-on effect could be while he was doing battle with Baghdatis. The Scot said: "You always kind of know what's going on around you, but when the scoreboard was coming up and it was 14-14 then 15-15, there's a bit of thinking, 'That's great for me - or for Marcos'."

But he cautioned: "Guys can recover, though. It was a five-hour match. When I played Novak [Djokovic] in Australia, our match was pretty much five hours, and then he played six hours against Rafa [Nadal].

"So you can recover. The day off definitely, definitely helps, but hopefully I'll be the fresher."

Speaking after the match, Cilic was confident he would have enough time to recover, while the forecast rain could also be a blessing for the 23-year-old.

He said: "We didn't have too many rallies that were physically tough. It was a lot of serving and one or two shots. I would say it was more mentally tough to stay in there.

"I feel I'm going to be okay, because I don't feel any soreness in my muscles or anything."

An extra concern for Murray was that he slipped over a number of times during the Baghdatis match and emerged for the third set under the roof with strapping on his left knee, but he did not expect there to be any lasting damage.

"There's nothing I'm too worried about," he said. "I've got a few bumps and bruises."

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