Andy Murray survived an opening set blip to power past Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver 4-6 6-3 6-0 6-0 in the first round at Wimbledon as the Centre Court's roof defied the elements and saved the day for the home fans.
Things were looking dicey for the Scot at one set down and 3-3 in the second set but a change of tactics and a total collapse by the previously impressive Gimeno-Traver led to Murray winning 15 straight games.
The fourth seed, seeking a first Grand slam title and hoping to become the first British men's singles champion at Wimbledon for 75 years, was already the main attraction but became the only one when rain washed out the rest of the day's programme.
The match became only the fourth to be played under the retractable roof and Murray had featured in the first in 2009.
But with the roof closed, and the grass in such good condition it looked like a carpet, the match had the feel of one of the many indoor tournaments in the calendar and the players performed accordingly, standing deep and trading groundstrokes.
With Murray slightly tentative in the opening set, the 59th-ranked Gimeno-Traver took full advantage with strong serving and consistent deep groundstrokes and eventually broke the Scot's previously safe-looking serve to take the opening set.
The way the Spaniard played it was difficult to see how, in his first nine tournaments of the year he had lost in the first round on every occasion.
It was nip and tuck too at the start of the second as it reached 3-3 and few in the ground could possibly have imagined that Gimeno-Traver would not win another game.
Murray finally broke to go 5-3, roaring "Come on" as he, and the partisan crowd, finally woke up.
The Scot served out the set with an ace then broke in the opening game of the third with a stunning running cross-court forehand.
Gimeno-Traver seemed to lose heart, as well as control of his length, and the whole nature of the match changed.
Murray raced through the third set 6-0 and then, with Gimeno-Traver's resistance completely broken, took the fourth to love too, in 17 minutes, for a remarkable comeback victory.
Murray said the key to the turnaround was his decision to change tactics during the second set.
"It was tough. I was having a lot of chances but wasn't able to convert any of them," he said.
"He wasn't really threatening my serve apart from that game in the first set when he broke me.
"It was just a way of finding a way to get the break. I changed the way I was returning and that changed the match.
"I was playing very aggressive on his first serve and on his second serve I was really tentative. So I was missing returns off the first serve, and, you know, really just giving him a chance to dictate a lot of the points.
"Once I started to block a lot of first serve returns, made the balls sort of shoot through the court a little bit more, and he made some more mistakes.
"I played some really good tennis in the third and fourth sets."
Murray, who came into the tournament buoyed by his victory at the Queen's warm-up event, said he was not shocked by the his opponent's strong start.
"I've played against him before and I've practised with him and I've seen him play some great matches," he said.
"I was a little bit surprised he hasn't had great results on the grass before but he can be a bit up and down."
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