Andy Murray earns fourth round place after battling back against Fabio Fognini

The reigning SW19 champion won 6-2 4-6 6-1 7-5, saving set point in the last, to ensure he plays in the tournament's second week

Andy Murray had to dig deep against the tenacious Fabio Fognini (Getty)

Fabio Fognini was the latest entertainer to take on Andy Murray on Centre Court but the fiery Italian went the way of his two flamboyant predecessors. Murray won 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 to reach the fourth round here for the 10th year in a row but needed to dig deep into his reserves of mental strength.

Murray trailed 5-2 in a remarkable fourth set in which he saved five set points before breaking Fognini’s resolve with a comeback that demonstrated all his powers of resilience.

The world No 1, who had beaten Alexander Bublik and Dustin Brown in straight sets in his first two matches, is through to the second week of his home Grand Slam tournament for the 10th year in succession and will next take on France’s Benoit Paire on Monday. Paire, the world No 46, beat Jerzy Janowicz 6-2, 7-6, 6-3.

Fognini, a spectacular shot-maker who had won three of his previous six meetings with Murray, is usually at his best on clay, but produced one of his best performances on grass.

Murray, meanwhile, combined some of his customary brilliance with some distinctly under-par passages of play, but what the 30-year-old Scot lacked in consistency he more than made up for with his gritty determination.

“The match was pretty up and down, I think, from both of us,” Murray said afterwards. “I didn't feel like I played my best tennis, but I won and I got through it.

“That’s a really positive thing. Now I've got two days to work on some things, rest up a little bit, and get used to the conditions that we’re playing in just now.

“The courts definitely have got a lot quicker than at the beginning of the event. It will be good to get a couple of days’ practice in those conditions before another match on Monday.”

Murray was forced to dig deep for this victory (Getty)

Asked if his injured hip had been bothering him, Murray said: “I didn’t feel like I moved as well as I did in the first two matches. It was also a completely different match for me. I was playing against two guys that were hitting drop shots all the time, coming forward, serve-volleying quite a lot.

“I had no real rhythm after the first couple of matches. Then today from Fabio there were a lot more rallies from the back of the court. It's partly down to the way he plays as well. I felt a little bit off balance. I didn’t feel like I moved particularly well tonight.”

However, he added: “I think physically I certainly could have played a fifth set if it was required. I actually finished very strongly in the end.”

To add to Fognini’s woes the Italian is likely to face a hefty fine for hurling his racket into the Centre Court turf in a moment of frustration, for which he was given one code violation, and a later obscenity, which cost him another violation and a point. The 30-year-old has previous here: three years ago he was fined $27,500 (about £21,300) for outbursts that included racket-throwing and an audible obscenity.

Britain started the day with four players in the third round of singles, which was the most for 20 years, but by the end of it that number had been cut in half. Defeats for Heather Watson and Aljaz Bedene meant that home hopes will now rest with the country’s two No 1s, Murray and Johanna Konta.

Fognini ruffled Murray's feathers in the second (Getty)

After earlier starts in his first two matches, Murray found himself back at his customary start time as the final match of the day. It was after 6pm when the two men went on to Centre Court, half of which was in shade at the start. The temperature was still a balmy 25C, but there was a stiffer breeze than there had been in previous days.

Murray took the first set in just 29 minutes. Fognini, looking much too casual, dropped serve in the sixth game thanks to four forehand errors, though that was nothing compared with the way he lost the set. Serving at 2-5 and 0-15, the Italian hit three successive double faults to hand Murray the early advantage.

The second set, nevertheless, brought an unexpected shift in momentum as Fognini served much better and grew in confidence while Murray started to struggle.

Fognini broke at the start of the set before throwing his racket to the floor in frustration at dropping his own serve in the following game. However, the Italian recovered his poise to break again to go 3-2 up and went on to level the match.

Fognini's ankle hampered him at times (Getty)

Some of the zip had been missing from Murray’s game and at the start of the third set the world No 1 appeared to make a conscious effort to raise his intensity. Fognini hurt his right ankle at the end of the third game, dropped his serve to go 3-1 down and then took a medical time-out to have the ankle strapped. Murray broke again, this time to love, and then took the set with two successive service winners.

Fognini’s growing frustration was evident in the fourth game of the third set. After Murray had gone 40-30 up, Damien Dumusois, the umpire, handed the Italian another code violation for an obscenity, which cost him a point and the game.

At this stage everything seemed to be going Murray’s way, but Fognini seized back the initiative to break when the Scot double-faulted on break point at 2-3. With the time approaching 9pm and the light fading fast it was likely that the match would have been stopped to allow the roof to be closed if it had gone to a fifth set, but Murray fought back.

At 2-5 Murray saved two set points with service winners and in the following game the Scot broke back in remarkable fashion. Fognini had two more set points, but on the first Murray won a drop shot exchange and on the second the Italian stopped in the middle of a rally to contest a line call, forgetting that he had already used up all his challenges.

The tension showed no sign of dropping in the next game as Murray again served to stay in the set. Fognini had a fifth set point, only to hit a forehand beyond the baseline, and the Scot levelled at 5-5.

Now it was Fognini’s turn to be put under pressure and the Italian was found wanting. Having saved one break point with a bold forehand into a corner, he netted a forehand on the second to give Murray the chance to serve out for the match.

Murray battled to save five set points (Getty)

The world No 1 did so in some style, winning the game to love with a booming ace. Murray’s roar of celebration at the end told you everything about what the victory meant to him.

Fognini said afterwards that he was “really happy” with his performance. “Most of the time I was playing better than him,” he said. “Remember, he’s No 1 in the world.”

However, the Italian complained that the playing surface was “really bad”, while Murray also voiced concerns about the condition of the courts. “I don't think the court is in as good a condition as previous years,” he said.

“There are quite a few spots on the court, just behind the baseline and just in front of it, where there are quite big lumps of grass, almost like little divots, which I don’t remember really being the case.

“I don’t know if it’s anything to do with the weather that they’ve had over the last few weeks and months. It’s been pretty hot, pretty extreme conditions, without much rain, so I don’t know if that's affected it.

“When I played the first match the court was great. I think it's just getting a bit beaten up early. A few of the players have said that about some of the outside courts as well.”