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After Novak Djokovic's first Grand Slam defeat in more than a year, there's now only one certainty left in tennis: Andy Murray always beats an Australian.
Murray's third-round performance against Queensland's John Millman wasn't without its imperfections. But, on the day that Sam Querrey hijacked Djokovic's attempt at history, so reminding everyone of the dangers posed by the grass-court underclass, all that mattered was the win.
In more than a decade of tennis at the highest level, Murray has never lost to an Australian, with his 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Millman taking his run against Aussies to 18 victories from 18 meetings. There was the perfection he really sought - maintaining that faultless record against those with 'AUS' against their names.
Murray, who was the runner-up to Djokovic at the Australian Open and Roland Garros this year, and who could end up being the greatest beneficiary of Djokovic's defeat, has made the last 16 without dropping a set all tournament. Upsets can be catchy at Grand Slams. We have seen that before. But Murray, inside a sealed Centre Court with the roof closed, stopped any contagion.
"I need to reach the final for that result [Djokovic's defeat] to have any bearing on my tournament. There are some tough guys left in the draw," said Murray.
On an alarming day, Djokovic was on two courts simultaneously. At the same time that he was going down against Querrey on No.1 Court, he was also on the Centre Court scoreboard, and quite possibly in Murray and Millman's heads.
When a player sits down at his changeover chair, it can often be a minute and a half of mental respite. But, for Murray on Centre Court, those breaks between games were potentially some of the most distracting times of this match - that was when the scoreboard flicked through the other courts.
With the scoreboard in his eye-line, and with the murmurings around the stadium, Murray could hardly have missed the rolling news from No.1 Court where Djokovic was in deep peril. Murray had just sat down with a 5-4 lead in the second set when the news came through on the scoreboard that Djokovic was out, and there was a cheer from the galleries and a grin from Judy Murray.
Did that news contribute to Murray's failure to hold serve in the next game, which would have given him a two-set lead? Did Murray suddenly get ahead of himself, thinking about a Djokovic-free tournament and the possibility of scoring his first Grand Slam title since the 2013 Championships?
"Obviously, if you see a result, and you hear the result, you think about it, that's normal. But it wasn't going through my mind for more than 10 or 15 second while I was sitting on the chair," Murray said.
But perhaps Querrey's victory over Djokovic had more of an effect on Millman, ranked No.67 in the world, than it did on Murray. Was Millman, making his first appearance on Centre Court, and trying to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time, emboldened by Querrey's performance? It certainly looked that way. Still, Murray regained control. After breaking Millman again, Murray gave himself a second opportunity to serve it out and that time he didn't falter.
Another possible distraction for Murray were the sporting guests in the Royal Box, which included David Beckham and boxer Carl Froch. But Murray didn't make the mistake of trying too hard to impress.
By comparison with Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic, Millman is the quiet man of Australian tennis. When he is not on the tennis road, the Queenslander can often be found at the quiz night at his local bowls club in Brisbane. But that's not to say that he was a diffident presence on Centre Court. He did his utmost to intrude on Murray's afternoon, and to make this as awkward as possible for the No.2 seed.
Also awkward for Murray were the weather interruptions. While the preceding women's match on Centre Court had been played under the roof, they went alfresco for the first set. However, they had only played a single point of the second set when it started to rain. After a short interlude, they returned, but just played two more points before another shower. The roof went back on. What followed was a match that, while untidy in parts, was of a high quality. "That was a good match - John makes you earn it," Murray observed.
So Murray remains undefeated since he and Ivan Lendl reformed their partnership. So far during the second Lendl era, Murray has won eight matches, with five victories at Queen's Club and three at Wimbledon. Can he keep that run going for another four matches?
