It was a rollercoaster - neither team could hold on to any mini-break leads. The Brits had a match point at 6-4 but Vliegen saved it with a winner. It was Murray’s turn to save a set point before they had another chance to close it out. It was saved by another winner and, facing another set point, Evans gave it away with a double fault.

For the second match in a row, Murray’s career hinged on a first-to-10-point match tiebreak. Again, it was filled with mini-breaks. There seemed to be no clear winner emerging in the tense, winner-take-all breaker. Gille and Vliegen were edging towards the finish line as they gave themselves two match points.

On the second, as Gille served for it, Murray came up with a huge return and an error kept his career alive. All of a sudden, they had their third match point. Fittingly, it was the former world No. 1 who stepped up to serve to continue his career. And for the second match in a row, he produced a miracle escape to push off his retirement.