Oh, how we have missed nights like these: an Andy Murray rollercoaster ride filled with moments of brilliance, moments of heart-stopping tension, injury scares, delays for bad light and the closing of the roof and then the 34-year-old former champion emerging triumphant. All we needed was a unicorn on a unicycle whistling Dixie and the night would have been complete. 

As Murray, now ranked No.118 in the world, tries to recapture some semblance of the form that saw him challenge for major titles on every surface prior to 2017 when his right hip finally gave out, he took another step toward his goal on Wednesday night. He had Oscar Otte where he wanted him, he let the German off the hook; he almost let the match slip from his grasp and then finally – finally – he got what he wanted. Murray was through 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to meet Denis Shapovalov in the third round. 

“I enjoyed the end – the middle part not so much,” he said with a smile. “But what an atmosphere to play in at the end. The whole crowd was amazing but there were a few guys who were in there getting me fired up. I needed everyone’s help tonight and they did a great job. I played some great shots at the end to finish it but it was a tough match. 

“[After the break] I had to start doing something differently. I started going for my shots more, started dictating the points more because I was being a bit negative, and because of the lack of matches, in the important moments I didn’t make the right decisions a lot of the time. But I think I played the right way the last couple of sets. And the first set and a half was really good but there’s just bits in the middle I would like to change.” 

Otte had been looking forward to this match like a young child looks forward to Christmas. He had come through the qualifying competition; he had beaten a fellow qualifier in the opening round out on Court 8 and now he was getting his reward for all that hard work: a big match on a big court. And playing the former champion and the local hero on Centre Court was about as big as it got. But there was even more to it than that. 

“He's huge in tennis,” Otte said of Murray prior to the match. “When I watched his documentary [Resurfacing] when it came out, actually, I was crying. It was so emotional and so inspiring. I mean, I'm probably talking for other players, too. He's just huge icon in the sport.” Suffice to say that Otte is something of a Murray fan. But quite what he thought of the Scot when Murray dismantled his serve twice in the first set to take the early lead is a matter for conjecture. 

He had served 24 aces in his opening round and banged in another six in the opening set against his new hero but it did not matter – Murray was playing well and he had considerably more nous and experience on a grass court than the world No.151. 

Otte is a big man, standing 6ft 4ins; he has a big wingspan and he has the aforementioned big serve. Murray looked at what was on offer before him and cut the German down to size. He moved Otte around, pulling him this way and that; he unwrapped his backhand and passed the German time and again, seemingly holding the ball on his racket strings until Otte had committed himself and then guiding it into empty space. 

All in all, it made the 41 minutes of the first set look straightforward. Entertaining but straightforward. 

The problem for Murray is that he has not done this very often in the past few years. All the injury woes, the decision to have the major surgery to resurface his right hip, all the setbacks and related injury issues since then – all of that has limited him to a handful of matches here, a little run there and an awful lot of time in rehab and on the practice courts. He is not only trying to shake the rust off the physical aspect of his game, he is trying to do the same to the mental part, too. 

He broke the Otte serve at the start of the second set and led by 3-1. Everything looked set fair for a swift and efficient win. But then he lost his focus, his form evaporated and the tall German took one look at Murray’s second serve and shredded it. And then shredded it again. Four games ran away from the former champion until he managed to slam the brakes on – but by then Otte was serving for the second set. The crowd, meanwhile, was playing its part. Every Murray winner was greeted with rapturous applause and cheering; every moment of danger was marked by bellowed support and encouragement. If Otte was going to take down their man, he was going to have to take every member of the crowd down, too. That might have been too much for a man trying to win only the sixth tour level match of his career – and he is 27. 

But Otte was doing just that. He was keeping a tight hold on all the parts of the match he could control and he was looking like a man happily growing into his status as a giant killer. Even when there was a delay before he went to serve for the third set – the baseline judge was feeling unwell and had to be replaced – Otte did not miss a beat. After two-and-a-quarter hours, he was leading by two sets to one. 

A brief discussion about whether to close the roof was squashed by Murray – “Why? Why?” he asked the referee, Gerry Armstrong – and on it went. Although for a split second, it looked to be all over when the Scot slipped and fell, howling in pain and clutching his left inner thigh. He has been struggling with a left groin issue since March and this could have been serious. Fortunately, he was back on his feet in a few moments and as he encouraged the crowd to make even more noise, he set about trying to rescue the situation. 

Then, as if we had not had enough drama for the evening, the roof was closed at 8.57pm with the score standing at 2-2 in the fourth set. Another 11 minutes later, the players were back for a three-minute warm-up in order to adjust to the new conditions and 9.14pm, we were off and running again. 

This, though, was a different match and a different Murray. He had reset his focus, recalibrated his tactics and he was taking the fight to Otte. And when he started to win that fight, he did not back off. Not this time. With the crowd cheering him every step of the way, he roared his way into the third round. 

Oh, how we have missed nights like these.