As the digital clock on the scoreboard reached 9.30pm the ghostly white figure at the far end of Centre Court raised his arms and was engulfed in a blaze of flashlights.

Everyone present wanted to capture the moment when Andy Murray arrived as a British tennis icon.

It was the end of three hours and 57 minutes of one of the most amazing matches in the history of this wonderful championships.

The green and yellow numbers on that scoreboard showed Murray had won 5-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 against eighth seed Richard Gasquet, but there was so much more to this fourth-round contest than mere statistics.

It was a marvellous rollercoaster of a ride that would normally have been halted long before the final point was won because, in truth, it was just too dark to see. Gasquet, who had total control of the match until the third-set tie break, repeatedly asked for the umpire to end the match.

But there would have been a riot if that had been the official's decision and Gasquet had no option but to keep playing in the forlorn hope that Murray would falter and he could somehow tie the fifth set at 5-5. At that point they would have come off court.

Murray knew he had one last chance to make it into his first Grand Slam quarter-final and go toe- to- toe with Rafael Nadal, who has appeared in the last two Wimbledon finals. The British No1 has got that wish and will have the entire nation backing his bid to become our first men's singles champion since Fred Perry in 1936.

Even Perry would have struggled to generate more noise from the crowd at the end of the match as the 15,000 fans forgot their early indifference - generated by Gaquet's brilliant opening two sets - and opted for collective delirium.

There was even support for Murray from two groups of Australian fans who had been cheering on Lleyton Hewitt earlier in the day.

It really was that kind of night on Centre Court when old prejudices - mainly held about Murray - were forgotten as the fans became totally caught up in a match that will live long in the memory. Gasquet served for the victory at 5-4 in the third, only to be broken and he never mentally recovered from that blow.

Even when the match was over, the unique nature of the contest continued as Murray turned up for his press conference clutching a large container of sushi. He proceeded to answer questions while using a pair of chop sticks and devouring pieces of food with the concentration that had allowed him to produce so many winners on court.

Indigestion appeared to be his only enemy as he headed back to his Wandsworth flat and much needed sleep in preparation for tomorrow's huge quarter-final with Nadal, a player Murray has never beaten in three previous attempts. However, this time Murray will have the unqualified support of the British tennis public, something he has never previously been able to count on - even at Wimbledon.

He said: "The crowd were awesome during the whole tie-break plus the fourth and fifth sets. Once I got ahead, they were behind me more than they ever have been before.

"I think it's really important to try and use the crowd to give you extra energy and kind of get on top of your opponent a bit. It must be intimidating playing against that and I have never been in the situation Gasquet was in. I am sure it was tough for him at the end.

"In the first two sets Gasquet completely outplayed me. He was going for his shots on all the big points, hitting the ball so hard and deep that I couldn't really do much.

"And then, as soon as the pressure did start to get to him a little bit in the end of the third set, I obviously took advantage of it and came back well. But the end of the match was absolutely awesome. It was nearly pitch black.

"It was lucky the fourth set was really fast because, I asked at the umpire at the end of the third how much longer we could go. He said we had about an hour - 9:15pm is when it starts to get really dark. I think Gasquet wanted to stop the match, but we could still see, just about, at the end."

Despite being upset on court that the umpire did not end the match during the final set, Gasquet was gracious in defeat. Having played for nearly three sets with enough guile and class to have warranted the win, he was equally impressive in the post-match debrief.

When I was a child at eight years old, I could play in the dark, to finish a match at my club," he said. "But in Wimbledon, it's strange. However, it was the same for Andy and it's not an excuse although it was a bit difficult with the dark.

"They wanted to finish the match because it's better for Wimbledon. He won, played well and fought a lot. I am sure he fought more because he was in Wimbledon and he played with the crowd.

"The crowd were pushing him a lot and it was not easy, but that's natural - he is in England. I am sure if I am leading 5-4 in another Grand Slam I would have won the match. I hope to play against him in Roland Garros because I won't be alone that time."

Nadal has made steady progress this year without having to hit the heights of the last two Wimbledon campaigns that earned him final appearances. An injury suffered against Mikhail Youzhny yesterday highlighted a fragility that Murray should be able to capitalise on - if he can somehow reproduce his fourthround form in daylight!