Tennis:British number one Andy Murray sealed his second Queen's Club title this afternoon with a thrilling 3-6 7-6 (7/2) 6-4 victory over fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final of the AEGON Championships.
Murray, who was victorious in the tournament two years ago, was attempting to land his first ATP World Tour victory of the season and in doing so was also bidding to become the first Briton to win the Queen's Club title at least twice in almost a century, since Francis Gordon Lowe won here three times between 1913 and 1925.
The dismal weather kept the covers on court all-day yesterday and instead of taking to the court for the scheduled final, Murray and Tsonga battled it out over a friendly game of table-tennis.
However, by winning an always-entertaining final, Murray made amends when it really mattered.
That said, the first set didn't go as the Scot had planned and he saw his serve broken by his French opponent in the sixth game. Tsonga got to 0-40 and snapped up the first of his three break points after, having originally had his shot called out, he challenged the decision and after Hawk-eye's judgement he was awarded the point and the all-important break.
The remainder of the set saw both players hold serve, giving Tsonga a 6-3 victory.
Tsonga's combination of power and precision - not to mention the occasional full-length dive and jumping overhead smash - had him in control.
The second set got under way much in the same way as the first, with both players looking strong on serve.
The Scot worked hard and played some superb groundstrokes on the Tsonga serve in the ninth game, earning himself four break points only to see the Frenchman show his resolve and defend all four to hold serve.
The Frenchman was again throwing himself across the court, much to the delight of the crowd, many of whom had queued on the gate for hours to catch the final for a cut-price €12, while Murray was determined not to be upstaged on the showboating front, hitting a forehand between his own legs and even managing to impart some top-spin in the process.
Both men were able to hold serve for the remainder the set, taking it to a tie-break. Murray earned a mini-break early on to take the lead and giving him the edge both on the scoreboard and psychologically as Tsonga started to waver.
Murray capitalised on his opponent's faltering and stormed to a 7-2 victory in the breaker, forcing the match into a decider.
The third set continued with the theme of holding serve and missed break opportunities for Murray until, in the fifth game, he earned a break point and capitalised on the opportunity for the first time in the match. He had previously let two break-points slip away in the third game, but he showed the clinical edge that he had been lacking up until this point.
The set continued to go with serve and continued to thrill the crowd with moments of brilliance from both players, the highlight being Murray's through-the-legs, cross-court drop-shot at 40-0 to take the eighth game and lead 5-3.
Tsonga went on to hold in the ninth to leave Murray serving for the championship.
Despite enormous efforts from Tsonga, including yet another full-length leap across the court, Murray was too strong and playing with too much confidence for the Frenchman.
The Scot held serve to love in the final game to clinch the title - the ideal preparation for his Wimbledon bid. That tournament starts on June 20th.
Afterwards, Murray said: "He was playing a different sport to me in the first two sets, I have never seen anyone dive so much. He is so much fun to watch but not much fun to play against.
"I had a few chances in the second set but none in the first. He was serving great. He was using variation on his serve, and a lot of aggression. But I managed to break him eventually.
"This has been one of the most fun weeks I've had on the tour. I've loved it."
Murray came into Queen's under an injury cloud after hurting his ankle at the French Open. And while still not completely pain-free, the Scot was happy with how the joint was responding.
He added: "My ankle has got much better each day. I still feel it from time to time though."
Frenchman Tsonga said: "Today, Andy was too good. I will try to beat him next time."