Murray wins five-set early morning epic at Australian Open

Veteran Andy Murray roared back in a five-set epic which ended past 4:00am to reach the Australian Open third round with a remarkable victory over home hope Thanasi Kokkinakis early Friday.

In front of a raucous but weary Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne, the Briton finally prevailed 4-6, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 7-5.

At five hours and 45 minutes it was the longest match in Murray's storied career.

The 35-year-old former world number one will play 24th seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain in round three.

The 159th-ranked Australian Kokkinakis raced into a two-set lead, giving little hint of the drama that was to come.

Kokkinakis is friends with Nick Kyrgios and displayed shades of his talented but temperamental fellow Australian, smashing his racquet as Murray mounted a trademark comeback.

Murray refused to go quietly, breaking his 26-year-old opponent to prolong the entertainment deeper into the early hours of Friday when Kokkinakis was serving for the match.

The indefatigable three-time Grand Slam champion Murray, who has a metal hip after career-saving surgery in 2019, then held his own serve for 5-5 in the third set.

Murray, now ranked 66 in the world, just would not go away and claimed the third set on a tie-break when his younger opponent put a volley wildly wide.

It was coming up to 2:00am when Murray, who stunned Italian 13th seed Matteo Berrettini in his opening match in another five-setter, served to begin the fourth set.

By that time, some seats were empty, as weary spectators called it a night.

Still the pair battled on, with little to choose between the two combatants and every rally keenly contested.

"Why are we playing at 3am?" shouted Murray.

They went with serve in the fourth set until Murray broke to go 4-2 up,