The former world number one Marat Safin won through to his first Grand Slam fourth round in almost two years this evening. In near-darkness on No.1 Court, the man who beat Novak Djokovic built on that success with a thrilling win over the No. 29 seed Andreas Seppi 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. He will face Stanislas Wawrinka in the last 16.

This was the first time since last year that Safin, now ranked 75, had been able to string three successive wins together, and it could not have been more popular with the crowd. Wimbledon remains the only Slam where he has never made the semi-finals. His opponent today was already breaking new ground, having never made the third round of any Slam before.

In the first set, there was no telling which way the match might go. It was all tactical warfare as Seppi blazed away from the baseline. The lone chance to break came at 4-3 for Safin but Seppi saved the chance with his serve. In fact, Safin's serve was superior but his errors were doing him no favours.

When it came, the tie-break was nip and tuck. Safin fell behind but got into his stride, out-thinking Seppi from the back of the court. He contributed a particularly spectacular effort when diving for, and simultaneously throwing his racket at, a Seppi passing shot to no avail. But he wanted this win, and grabbed another mini-break with yet another powerful forehand before sending down an unreturnable serve to take the set.

After the famine of break points in the first set there was a flood in the second. In the v first game, Safin skied a forehand to gift the break. Cross with himself, he broke back – although he had to survive the embarrassment of an air shot to do it. Seppi sent a marvellous forehand down the line to take the advantage again. This time Safin became so frustrated with himself that he sent a forehand high into the stands, where it rattled down Staircase 20 before being retrieved.

Matters continued to see-saw. Safin double-faulted to give Seppi a 5-1 lead, and then reduced the deficit to 5-3. But the Russian was still sending his groundstrokes too long, and Seppi took the set. It was the first Safin had lost this Wimbledon.

Come the third set, the drought was restored. As the light faded dramatically, break points were nowhere to be found and the set moved inexorably into the tie-break. A sudden string of errors from Seppi's racquet handed Safin a 4-0 advantage and Seppi could not recover.

Despite the gloom, they opted to keep playing, a decision Seppi came to regret when Safin pressed home his two sets to one lead by breaking the Italian at once. Seppi levelled, and Safin snatched it back again. In near-darkness, the Russian fought off two break points at 5-4 to take a memorable victory

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