• AEGON Championship

Bad light halts Murray match with score finely poised

Andy Murray lost the first set © Getty Images

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An irate Andy Murray saw his third-round match against Mardy Fish at the AEGON Championship halted by bad light with the score at 4-6 6-1 3-3.

Play was suspended in the final set just as the momentum was swinging towards Murray, who had battled back from a 3-0 deficit to restore parity.

"Mardy says he doesn't want to play so we stop playing. The referee didn't consult anyone," Murray said to the BBC.

"That came out of nowhere. The weather was absolutely fine. It's ridiculous. The only reason he wanted to stop was because it was 3-3."

It was an erratic performance from Murray, and one that was indicative of both the difficulties and the successes of his season so far.

He looked every inch the struggling player that has failed to reach a quarter-final since January during the first set, as he failed to perform with any intensity. Fish, who beat Murray in the Miami Masters earlier this year, was the superior player by some distance.

The momentum swung back towards Murray in the second stanza, as he showed glimpses of the form that saw him reach the Australian Open final at the start of the year. He seemed roused by the adversity that he found himself in, and he took his game well above the mediocre level he had performed at during the first set.

Murray's chances of defending the Queen's title appeared to have evaporated in the early stages of the third, however, as he fell three games behind. Yet he demonstrated all his battling qualities to claw the score back to 3-3, before he was forced off - much to his displeasure - after Fish complained to the umpire about the conditions.

The players will resume on Friday, with a quarter-final match against Michael Llodra the reward for the victor.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.