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Murray set for third round and Saturday's other must-see matches

  • Posted: Jul 02, 2016
Wimbledon on the BBC
Venue: All England Club. Dates: 27 June-10 July.
Live: Coverage across BBC TV, BBC Radio and BBC Sport website with more on Red Button, Connected TVs and app. Click for more details

Great Britain’s Andy Murray will be hoping to maintain his good form at this year’s Wimbledon when he takes on Australia’s John Millman on Saturday.

Murray is the last British player left in singles’ competition after defeats for Dan Evans and Tara Moore on Friday.

In the opening two rounds, Murray, the 2013 Wimbledon champion, has not lost a set and only dropped 15 games.

“If you can win matches easily it does help because you can rest. It has been a good start,” he said.

  • Order of play – who is in action when?

Millman, 27, is ranked 67th in the world and nearly quit tennis after suffering a serious shoulder injury three years ago.

“I worked in the City for a little bit at one of my mate’s companies – I was dressed up in a suit each day going in,” said Millman, who admitted he had “never been inside Centre Court or Court One”.

“I really have an appreciation of these moments right now, because there was a big time there where I wasn’t too confident.

“You dream of playing on the biggest courts against the biggest players. I feel as if I deserve to be there and I’m going to give it everything.”

That third-round match is scheduled to be second on Centre Court on Saturday and will be the first time Murray and Millman have met in a Grand Slam.

Murray has only played Millman once, winning two sets to one in the second round of the Brisbane International on a hard court in January 2013.

“I didn’t know him before we played in Brisbane,” said the world number two. “He played extremely well that day. He was ranked about 200 at the time.

“I came off the court and I said to Dani Vallverdu, who I was working with, ‘He’s top 50 for sure if he keeps going’.

“He moves well and has a great attitude. But obviously it’s a different surface, different place. The match-up will be a bit different on a grass court.”

Centre Court order of play (13:00 BST start)
[5] Simona Halep (Rom) v Kiki Bertens (Ned) [26]
John Millman (Aus) v Andy Murray (GB) [2]
[27] Jack Sock (US) v Milos Raonic (Can) [6]

Worrying times for Djokovic

World number one Novak Djokovic has won 30 Grand Slam matches in a row, with his last loss coming against Stan Wawrinka in the final of the French Open in June 2015.

But he has a fight on his hands when he resumes on Court One on Saturday two sets to love behind against America’s 28th seed Sam Querrey.

Querrey took the first set on a tie-break before cruising through the second 6-1 only for the rain to arrive, meaning they have to conclude their third-round match on Saturday.

“Querrey maintained his level and Djokovic looked as though he was uninterested,” four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Tim Henman told BBC Sport.

“He obviously isn’t but since he is down two sets to love he will be happy to have a break and talk to his team.

“He has got to draw on last year’s experience. He is certainly hoping that history repeats itself.”

Last year, Djokovic trailed South African Kevin Anderson by the same margin in their last-16 tie when bad light stopped play and the Serb came back to win a day later.

Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, who beat German Dustin Brown in a five-set thriller on Friday, is also in action on Court One on Saturday.

He takes on Spain’s Feliciano Lopez with the winner playing the victor of the Murray-Millman match in the last 16.

Court One order of play (12:00 BST start)
[1] Novak Djokovic (Ser) v Sam Querrey (US) [28]
Alize Cornet (Fra) v Madison Keys (US) [9]
[15] Nick Kyrgios (Aus) v Feliciano Lopez (Spa) [22]

Kvitova faces tough schedule

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is going to have a busy schedule if she is going to have more success at the tournament, as she is yet to finish her second-round singles match.

She returns on Saturday with work to do to stay in the competition after losing the first set 7-5 to Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova.

Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, a Wimbledon runner-up two years ago, defeated British number one Johanna Konta on Thursday and is in action against 19th seed Dominika Cibulkova.

Court Two order of play (11:00 BST start)
Carina Witthoeft (Ger) v Angelique Kerber (Ger) [4]
[10] Petra Kvitova (Cze) v Ekaterina Makarova (Rus)
[19] Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) v Eugenie Bouchard (Can)
[18] John Isner (US) v Jo Wilfried-Tsonga (Fra) [12]

Weather forecast

Wimbledon organisers have already announced that there will be play on the middle Sunday of the tournament for the first time since 2004.

The opening week’s schedule has been disrupted by rain delays and there could be more frustration for tennis fans on outside courts on Saturday.

Steve Cleaton of BBC Weather said: “It will be bright, breezy and dry for lengthy periods, but there will be the risk of occasional showers through the course of the day.

“Any showers should move through fairly quickly, but they could be heavy.”

You can now add tennis alerts in the BBC Sport app – simply head to the menu and My Alerts section

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Wimbledon 2016: Britain's Tara Moore defeated by Svetlana Kuzenetsova

  • Posted: Jul 01, 2016

British interest in the women’s singles at Wimbledon ended with Tara Moore’s defeat by Russian 13th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round.

Wildcard Moore ranked 227 in the world lost 6-1 2-6 6-3 on court three – the last of six British women to fall in the singles.

Watch more from Wimbledon here.

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Tsonga Advances To Wimbledon Round 3

  • Posted: Jul 01, 2016

Tsonga Advances To Wimbledon Round 3

Nick Kyrgios and Dustin Brown battle in entertaining second round clash

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the No.12 seed, needed 82 minutes to beat Juan Monaco 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 on Friday at Wimbledon. It was the first grass-court meeting between the pair, who have now met at all four Grand Slams. The Frenchman hit 32 winners en route to improving his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Monaco to 6-0.

“Today I played pretty good tennis,” said Tsonga, who is a two-time semi-finalist (2011, 2012). “It was a lot better than my first round, so I’m really happy. [I] hope I will continue in this way.” The Frenchman awaits the winner of No.18 seed John Isner and Matthew Barton in the third round. 

In the first meeting between No. 15 seed Nick Kyrgios and wild card Dustin Brown, the pair were tied at two-sets-all when play was suspended due to rain. Down 0/40 in the seventh game of the fifth set, Brown reeled off a bevy of winners to get to deuce. Kyrgios earned another break point but Mother Nature had other ideas as the skies opened up.

Kyrgios is looking to reach the third round at the All England Club for the third straight year. Last year, Brown equalled his best Wimbledon result by reaching the third round after upsetting tenth seed Rafael Nadal. The winner will next face either No. 22 seed Feliciano Lopez or Fabio Fognini.

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Serena Williams and Venus Williams survive at Wimbledon 2016

  • Posted: Jul 01, 2016

Defending champion Serena Williams and sister Venus both survived scares to progress at Wimbledon.

Serena beat the world number 65 Christina McHale, 6-7 (7) 6-2 6-4 on Centre Court while Venus won 7-5 4-6 10-8 against teenager Daria Kasatkina.

Serena trailed 2-0 at the start of the deciding set but won in two hours 29 minutes on Centre Court against her fellow American.

The top seed hit 40 unforced errors in the rain-affected match.

Shortly after an interruption while the Centre Court roof was closed because of rain, the world number one had a set point but failed to convert.

She thought she had won the opener but was denied by a narrow Hawk-Eye overrule before the impressive McHale went on to claim it on a tie-break.

Serena said: “It was a really good match. She played great and always does against me.

“I know that mentally no one can break me and I knew being a break down in third set I had to put my mind to it and that’s what I did.”

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Get news alerts for your favourite sports

  • Posted: Jul 01, 2016

In the BBC Sport app you can now set alerts for football, cricket, tennis, golf and formula 1 news – ensuring you never miss any of the biggest stories from your favourite sports.

These five new alerts complement Top Stories, which already send out breaking sport news and reaction to more than 400,000 subscribers.

The alerts are easy to add – head to the My Alerts section of the menu and then choose the topics you are interested in.

You can also add score alerts for your football, rugby and cricket teams as well as Formula 1.

As an example, you might be a fan of Manchester City, the English football team, Lancashire cricket and Salford Rugby League, while also enjoying tennis.

In the app, you could set score alerts for Man City, England football, Salford and Lancashire, while also setting news alerts for football, cricket and tennis.

Whether it’s a try for Salford, the start of a key Andy Murray match, a major football signing or the latest England cricket squad announcement, the news that matters to you would arrive on your homescreen.

Download the BBC Sport app on Android, iOS (Apple) or Kindle.

What are alerts?

Alerts are notifications which pop up on to your phone’s homescreen with key information. For example, if you set alerts for a football or rugby team, you can receive an alert every time a goal or point is scored in one of their matches, as well as alerts with the line-ups, half-time and full-time score.

Similarly, cricket fans might like to add England cricket alerts – these will provide notifications every time a wicket falls (with the batsman’s score and team score), as well as alerts for end of innings scores and results.

The level of detail can be set for each type of alert, for example you might not want to know every time a wicket falls, you might just want the result. Similarly you might want Formula 1 alerts for qualifying but not the race itself if you’re planning to watch the highlights later.

How do I add them?

To add the alerts follow these steps.

  1. Visit the MyAlerts section of the app from within the menu
  2. Select Euro 2016, or if you want to add other alerts pick from a sport – cricket, football, Formula 1, rugby league or rugby union – or sport news
  3. For sport news, simply tick the box! To set alerts for the Formula 1 season, simply set the sessions you want to receive updates for. For all other sports, select the teams you want to follow – there’s a full list below. You can add alerts for as many teams and sessions as you want.
  4. Wait for the alerts to arrive – hopefully they’re good news!

You can of course easily turn alerts off – if, for example, you do not want to know the results of a match you’re planning to watch highlights of on Match of the Day.

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Leon Smith: Davis Cup captain becomes Tennis Scotland's performance chief

  • Posted: Jul 01, 2016

Tennis Scotland has appointed Davis Cup-winning captain Leon Smith as its new performance director.

The 40-year-old Scot will continue his roles with the GB team and as LTA head of men’s tennis.

Smith welcomed being handed the task of ensuring there is a legacy for Scotland when Andy Murray retires.

“I am passionate about assisting to deliver a structure and programme that will help to achieve the goals we all want,” he said.

“There have been changes recently at Tennis Scotland and I do believe the sport is heading in the right direction, which is really exciting.

“I would like to contribute to this and work closely with the chair, the board and the staff to help influence the future for tennis in Scotland.”

In his non-executive board position, Smith will lead Tennis Scotland’s aims of improving facilities and driving up participation while Murray and brother Jamie are still active.

Tennis Scotland chair Blane Dodds said: “This is a key role for us and I am convinced that the ambitious new plans we are making, and the support we are receiving, are beginning to show progress.

“It is a significant step forward for us for Leon to be joining Tennis Scotland and the objective is to deliver more in Scotland on the back of the world-class achievements that both Andy and Jamie Murray, and others, are delivering.

“We have ambitious plans for the future and having Leon on board to formulate and drive these plans with us will significantly help deliver the outcomes we all want.

“Our field team work tirelessly throughout the country and to have someone of Leon’s stature complementing that work will be a massive boost all round.”

Smith, who signed a deal in March to stay on as Davis Cup captain for the next three years, worked with Andy and brother Jamie as teenagers and last year led them to Great Britain’s first Davis Cup success since 1936.

He has been in the position since 2010, when Britain were on the verge of relegation to the competition’s bottom tier.

Smith has also spent time coaching British number two Aljaz Bedene this year.

Jamie Murray, presently the world’s highest-ranked doubles player, welcomed the appointment.

“Leon, with his experience, not just with Davis Cup but working with juniors for quite a long time in Scotland and then in the UK – he has had several important jobs at the LTA – I am sure will be a huge benefit to Scottish tennis,” he told BBC Scotland.

“We’ve talked about it a lot together and I think he is very passionate about it and wanting to make the most of the success that me and Andy have had and Leon with the Davis Cup team.

“I am glad that he is in a good position to influence things now.”

Colin Fleming, who will join his fellow Scots in Team GB at the Rio Olympics, considered it “a brilliant appointment”.

“Leon has been brilliant at whatever he has done,” he said.

“He has been the head of men’s tennis and he’s done a good job there, as a coach, he is very effective and, as Davis Cup captain, he’s been brilliant.

“Scottish tennis has some real figureheads, but up until now they have probably not been involved with the governing body.”

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Andy Murray column: 'Dan Evans has made mistakes along the way – but he can play'

  • Posted: Jul 01, 2016
Wimbledon on the BBC
Venue: All England Club Dates: 27 June-10 July
Live: Coverage across BBC TV, BBC Radio and BBC Sport website with further coverage on Red Button, Connected TVs and app. Click for more details

Dan Evans might have made a few bad decisions in the past but he’s always had the ability to play at the top level.

I don’t know if a switch went off in his head some time last year, but to go from being ranked below 700 to 91 in the world and playing Roger Federer on Centre Court is very impressive, and it only happens through hard work.

It takes some people longer than others to work out how best to get there and he’s on the right track now.

Dan’s been a great Davis Cup team-mate – he supports well and tries his backside off in matches, and that’s all you want really.

He played very well against Kei Nishikori in Birmingham earlier this year, and he’s had some big wins in the past against guys ranked much higher than him.

Every time I’ve practised with him he’s been fantastic and he’s never complained when he’s not been picked or played.

I don’t think that’s always been said, or that the good things about him have been reported as much.

Dan would probably admit he’s made some bad mistakes along the way but when he’s represented his country, I think he should be very proud of how he’s performed.

‘He’s a cheeky chappie, fun to be around’

I thought Marcus Willis did very well against Roger once he settled into the match and it will be interesting to see how Dan gets on.

He and Marcus are good friends and I think both of them know how to enjoy themselves. Dan is a sort of cheeky chappie, always fun to be around.

My fitness trainer Matt Little worked with him when he was 10 years old and said the first time they were introduced, he said, ‘Hi, I’m Matt Little’, and Dan said, ‘It’s funny that your surname’s Little when you’re tiny.’

That was Dan as a 10-year-old, and in some ways he hasn’t changed much!

He still seems like the same person I first met. We always got on well. It seems like he’s finally found that consistency of working hard all of the time and I think his coach Mark Hilton will be very good for Dan in that respect, because when Mark played he was a really good worker.

The other reason I think Dan is going to keep moving up the rankings is because he’s good – he’s really good – and the more you play at this level, the better you get.

In the past he would play maybe one match every three months at this level, and then go back down to Futures. Now he’s playing and practising with guys like this every week and he can keep pushing higher.

Dan certainly won’t be the favourite against Roger but he can cause him problems and make it interesting.

‘You can’t avoid the top players if you want to win things’

I was happy with how I played against Yen-Hsun Lu, especially in the second and third sets, and as always at this stage I’m just hoping I can keep improving with each round.

After the match I met Carl Froch for the first time face to face, having spoken to him on the radio a couple of times before, and I always get something out of meeting boxers.

What made Carl different was he always fought the best fighters available, which is pretty rare in boxing. He fought everyone, all of the big names in his division, and he was very entertaining to watch. He was never really in dull fights.

I suppose I can relate to that in as much as you can’t avoid the top players in tennis if you want to win things, although to be honest I can understand it more in boxing because it’s a very dangerous sport.

Boxers have a short career and obviously want to make the most amount of money and be as successful as possible in that time.

I certainly don’t plan on anything going wrong when I play John Millman on Saturday, but when I do lose a tennis match, the consequences are not quite so serious.

In a sport like boxing, if you pick the wrong fight at the wrong time, it can be pretty rough.

Andy Murray was talking to BBC Sport’s Piers Newbery.

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