British number one Andy Murray expressed relief and frustration on Monday after surviving a five-set examination in the first Wimbledon match played entirely under the new Centre Court roof.
The third seed needed nearly four hours to defeat Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka under the lights in a match which finished at 10.38pm local time (2138 GMT) after officials decided to keep the roof closed because of the threat of rain.
"It was obviously great to come through," he told a news conference. "I had to play some great tennis tonight because Stan was playing some unbelievable tennis at the start."
Murray dropped the first set in 34 minutes, as he struggled with his first service before rallying to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.
"It was very, very heavy and very humid," he said. "We were sweating so much. When I finished it was like I'd been in a bath. I struggled to serve because it wasn't coming off the strings that quickly."
Murray said the players had also been affected by warming up outside then playing indoors.
"In very few sports would coaches and teams be particularly happy if they don't know exactly what time they're going to kick off, or what the conditions are going to be like when they go out there," he said.
The noise throughout the match was thunderous as spectators shouted their support for Murray, against a spirited opponent who served well and unleashed an exceptional backhand which kept Murray scrambling on the baseline.
"Playing indoors always makes a difference to the atmosphere and when there is noise it doesn't get lose anywhere," he said.
"That was probably the noisiest crowd I played in front of."
A dejected Wawrinka, who won the Beijing Olympics doubles gold medal last year with Roger Federer, said he had tried his utmost.
"For sure, I'm sorry," he said.
