Andy Murray completes epic five-set win over Thanasi Kokkinakis in 4am finish at Australian Open

Andy Murray completed an extraordinary comeback in the early hours of the morning to reach the Australian Open third round after an epic five-set win over Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Andy Murray celebrates victory against Australia's Thanasi Kokkinakis after a five-set epic at the Australian Open. (Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)

The Australian served for victory at 5-3 in the third set of their second-round encounter on a rowdy, partisan Margaret Court Arena only for Murray to show once again that his greatest asset is a stubborn refusal to lose.

The super-human 35-year-old, who had battled for nearly five hours to upset Matteo Berrettini on Tuesday in his best result since 2017, forced a deciding set and finally prevailed 4-6 6-7 (4) 7-6 (5) 6-3 7-5 at 4.05am.

It was a match that had everything – including a ridiculous point in the third set where Murray retrieved three smashes – and at five hours and 46 minutes, it was the longest match of Murray’s entire career and the third latest finish to a tennis match in history.

“It was unbelievable that I managed to turn that around,” the Scot said on court afterwards.

“Thanasi was serving unbelievable. His forehand is huge and I don’t know how I managed to get through it.

"I did start playing better as the match went and, yeah … I have a big heart."

He added: “I think now I am outright the (winner of) most matches coming back from two sets to love down, so I have done it before, I have experience of it and I just rely on that experience and that drive and that fight, and my love of the game and competing and my respect for this event and the competition.

“That’s why I kept going.”