How Andy Murray and Dan Evans conjured up another dramatic escape to march into Paris Olympics quarter-finals

As the temperature at Roland Garros finally started to drop, Andy Murray did what Andy Murray does and pulled another rabbit out of the bag. The most exceptional tennis career this country has ever known was extended a little further, saving match points for his second match running.

Up against Belgian duo Joren Vliegen and Sander Gille, Murray and Dan Evans were pushed to the very limit, but eventually triumphed 6-3 6-7 (8) 11-9. This was not quite as outrageous as Sunday’s comeback over Kei Nishikori and Taro Daniel. Murray and Evans dictated play for much of this encounter.

Where in round one, victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat, this would have been a loss which would have stung, such was the control they demonstrated. You are a long time retired, so the saying goes, and Murray is clearly desperate to push that date back as long as possible.

He and Evans are now into the quarter-finals of the men’s Olympic doubles. One more victory against either Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, or Dutch duo Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer, and his career will end playing for a medal.

Murray’s Wimbledon farewell ended with a press release, as Emma Raducanu withdrew from the mixed doubles. But as soon as he made it to Paris, to the Olympic stage - his stage - you just knew that Murray would have some more magic moments in him.

Perhaps most pleasingly, the quality of tennis he and Evans are producing is on the rise. They do not yet look like Olympic medallists, but this was exponentially better than round one. Keep going, and why not dare to dream?

After all, Murray is currently living the reverse Groundhog Day. Where Bill Murray does everything he can to escape the nightmare of reliving the same mundane day over and over, his Scottish namesake is experiencing the joys of unlikely success after unlikely success.

For the sake of our fingernails, just one match without this sort of drama would be welcome, but that just is not the Murray way. Even in a match they controlled, Murray and Evans looked to be letting it all slip. Trailing 9-7 in the super tie-break, they were in the last-chance saloon again.

In turn, each man stepped up. Evans produced a booming serve that did not come back to save the first match point. Then Murray somehow got a huge return back on his forehand, clearing the net by a matter of millimetres to save the second.

When they got a third match point of their own, it was fitting that it was a joint effort to see the match out. Murray’s big serve was followed by a crunching Evans smash, and the fairytale continues.

This was a match in which he and Evans looked as though they were going to avoid the usual drama that comes with a late Murray finish. But try as he might, Britain’s greatest-ever tennis player just does not do easy.

After a relatively straightforward opening set, a single break was all it took, with break points saved on Evans’ first and last serving game the difference. The second set was rather cagier. Break points were squandered at 4-4, just when it seemed like any added suspense could be avoided. When Murray held serve to take it to 6-6, the Brits knew that they had two tie-breaks to book their place in the quarter-final. They needed both, and a great deal of resolve once again.

Had they not turned things around in the super tie-break, the end of the second set would have been rather more contentious. Firstly, the British pair missed two match-point opportunities to put the encounter away. Then, at 8-8, Evans could not return a Vliegen serve to his forehand, only for he and Murray to cry out in unison for a let cord that never came.

Disbelief followed. Murray pleaded to the umpire: “Maaate! You’ve got to hear that, it was so obvious!” The calls fell on deaf ears. The immediate response from Evans was not ideal, a double fault and suddenly we were back in super tie-break territory.

Even for Murray, the test of his fortitude was immense. And credit must go to Evans for the way he responded to that setback. The pressure of being Murray’s partner in this situation is immense and he stepped up in the super tie-break.

It ebbed one way and then the other. But just as Duncan Scott and Britain’s 4x200m freestylers successfully defended their Olympic crown a few miles up the road in La Défense, Murray and Evans did some defending of their own.

Two Olympics golds, one Olympic bronze. With every passing night in the stifling heat of the French capital, Murray moves one step closer to another Olympic medal. The fairytale continues.

He and Evans were not the only Brits to succeed at Porte d’Auteuil on Tuesday, as Katie Boulter and Heather Watson also came out on top in their battle with German duo Laura Siegemund and Angelique Kerber.

Boulter was beaten in her opening singles match on Sunday, but was in fine form as she and Olympic veteran Watson came out on top, although Watson later fell in the mixed doubles alongside Joe Salisbury.

They lost 7-5 6-5 10-3 to Canadians Felix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriela Dabrowski, their super tie-break going the wrong way at almost the exact same time as Murray and Evans pulled one out of the fire.

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