The second seed convincingly advanced on Thursday
Andy Murray is drawing plenty of attention for his dominant form so far at Wimbledon, but said the expectations to continue that level of play don’t have any affect on him.
The second seed dropped just six games in defeating Yen-Hsun Lu on Thursday. Murray has been joined by other British players in making headlines this week with their inspired tennis, including Marcus Willis and Dan Evans, but said he’s learned how to block out the added attention he gets from the British public.
“I don’t think it changes anything in my mind. I’ve played here when there’s been big competitions going on elsewhere in different sports or when some of the other Brits have made deep runs, as well. It makes absolutely zero difference to me [in] how I perform and how I play,” said Murray. “When the attention’s been on me a lot, I’ve played well. When it hasn’t, I’ve also played well.”
Next up for Murray is John Millman, who defeated No. 26 seed Benoit Paire on Thursday to reach the third round at Wimbledon for the first time. Murray defeated Millman in their only career meeting in Brisbane in 2013, but credited the Australian with his rise up the Emirates ATP Rankings since then.
“He played extremely well that day. He was ranked about 200 at the time. I came off the court and I said to Danny Vallverdu, who I was working with, ‘He’s Top 50 for sure if he keeps going,’” said Murray. “He moves well and has a great attitude, but obviously this is a different surface and different place. “
Murray would love nothing more than to capture his second Wimbledon title. He said experiencing the impact that his Grand Slam victories have had on his hometown marks among his proudest moments on or off the court.
“When I went back to Dunblane after the US Open [in 2012], it was really special for me. It meant a lot to see a lot of old school friends, the town where I grew up, loads of people on the streets,” said Murray. “I had no idea how many people were going to turn up that day. Obviously it was one of the most special days of my life for a number of reasons.”
Gasquet, Ramos-Vinolas also advance on Thursday
Jiri Vesely caused the biggest upset of The Championships on Thursday by recording only the second Top 10 win of his career (2-9 record).
Vesely, currently No. 64 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, held his nerve to edge past No. 8-ranked Dominic Thiem 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 7-6(3) in two hours and 45 minutes on Court No. 1 for a place in the third round. Vesely goes on to face No. 31 seed Joao Sousa, who beat American Dennis Novikov 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in just under two hours.
Vesely failed to convert one set point opportunity on Thiem’s serve at 6-5 in the first set, but won three straight points from 4/4 in the tie-break. The Czech calmly took a 3/0 lead in the second set tie-break and won four of the first five points in the third tie-break of the pair’s third FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.
“I had a lot of confidence in the most important moments,” said Vesely. “In the tight moments I was more comfortable, I served well and overall I think I played a very good match.”
Thiem, the ATP World Tour match wins leader this year with a 48-13 record, has won four titles over the past six months. Vesely, also 22, is now 7-7 lifetime on grass courts.
Seventh seed Richard Gasquet battled his way past Marcel Granollers 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday at The Championships. The 2007 and 2015 semi-finalist hit 41 winners and converted six of his 17 break point opportunities for a place in the third round.
Gasquet improved to 27-10 at the All England Club for sole ownership of sixth place for most match wins by a Frenchman.
MOST WIMBLEDON MATCH WINS BY FRENCHMEN
|
Player
|
Match Record |
Best Wimbledon Result
|
|
1) Jean Borotra
|
55-10 |
Champion – 1924, 1926
|
|
2) Henri Cochet
|
43-8 |
Champion – 1927, 1929
|
|
3) Jacques Brugnon
|
37-19 |
SF – 1926
|
|
4) Christian Boussus
|
30-13 |
SF – 1928
|
|
5) Rene Lacoste
|
28-4 |
Champion – 1925, 1928
|
|
6) Richard Gasquet
|
27-10 |
SF – 2007, 2015
|
|
7) Henri Leconte
|
26-13 |
QF – 1985, 1987
|
He will next face Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who needed almost three hours to battle past No. 25 seed Viktor Troicki 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. The Spaniard saved seven of the 10 break points he faced and survived 64 winners from Troicki.
Defending champs upset
Third seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares couldn’t convert a match point in the second-set tiebreak against Jonathan Erlich and Colin Fleming, but rebounded to move into the second round of Wimbledon 6-2, 6-7(9), 6-3 on Thursday. Murray reached the Wimbledon final last year with John Peers. Next up for them is the winner of the match between Federico Delbonis/Diego Schwartzman and wild cards Kyle Edmund/James Ward.
2013 Wimbledon doubles champion Jonathan Marray and partner Adil Shamasdin scored the upset of the tournament by knocking out defending champions and fourth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau in the opening round 6-2, 7-6(3). The unseeded duo swept the final five points of the second set tie-break to take the match. They will now play Dustin Brown and Jan-Lennard Struff, who defeated Andres Molteni and Julio Peralta, 6-4, 6-4.
Second seeds and three-time champions Bob and Mike Bryan narrowly avoided a similar upset by defeating Inigo Cervantes and Paolo Lorenzi, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. The Bryans grabbed the lone break of serve in the final set at 3-3. Next up for them is the winner of the match between Malek Jaziri/Lukas Rosol and wild cards Daniel Evans/Lloyd Glasspool.
Twelfth seeds Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi didn’t drop serve in defeating Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-3, 7-6(5). They will now play Marcelo Demoliner and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, who defeated Julian Knowle and Artem Sitak, 7-6(5), 6-3.
Thirteenth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah defeated Brian Baker and Marcus Daniell, 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-3. They’ll next play the winner between Leonardo Mayer/Joao Sousa and Sam Groth/Robert Lindstedt.
All first-round doubles matches were shortened to a best-of-three format due to inclement weather earlier this week. Matches will be best-of-five from the second-round on.
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| Wimbledon on the BBC |
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| 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 |
Great Britain’s Dan Evans meets seven-times champion Roger Federer in the third round at Wimbledon on Friday.
The 26-year-old follows in the footsteps of compatriot Marcus Willis in meeting the Swiss on Centre Court.
British qualifier Willis, ranked 772 in the world, lost 6-0 6-3 6-4 to Federer on Wednesday.
World number one Serena Williams is second on Centre Court as the defending champion faces fellow American Christina McHale.
In the men’s draw, Novak Djokovic will be on Court One as the Serb continues his bid to defend his Wimbledon title against American Sam Querrey.
| Centre Court order of play (13:00 BST start) |
|---|
| Juan Martin del Potro (Arg) v [4] Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi) |
| [1] Serena Williams (US) v Christina McHale (US) |
| [3] Roger Federer (Swi) v Dan Evans (Gbr) |
Evans has enjoyed a remarkable run in the past year, climbing more than 650 places up the world rankings since dropping to 772nd in May 2015.
Questions were raised about the Birmingham player’s commitment to the sport when he did not turn up to a Futures event, while he has also struggled with a knee injury.
But he has rediscovered his fitness and form in the past 12 months, helping Great Britain win the Davis Cup and claiming three ATP Challenger titles.
He was rewarded with his first Wimbledon win against Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, before setting up the meeting with Federer by beating 30th seed Alexandr Dolgopolov on Thursday.
“(Federer’s) not a normal guy obviously, but he’s another tennis player,” said Evans.
“I just have to prepare myself and try and put that to the back of my head – that it’s Roger I’m playing – go out and give it my best.”
“Dan will go out there and try to make life as difficult as possible for Roger,” said British former Wimbledon semi-finalist Tim Henman.
“He needs to serve well, use that good sliced backhand and try and dictate when he gets the chance. Obviously that’s not easy against Federer.”
Venus Williams makes a swift return to action as the former world number one plays Russian Daria Kasatkina on Court One.
Williams overcame Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari 7-5 4-6 6-3 in the second round on Thursday.
However, the five-times Wimbledon champion appeared to be disappointed at having to play on Court 18 – the smallest show court at the All England Club.
“I think if players have to play outside (on the outside courts), all players should have to play outside,” said Williams.
“There shouldn’t be exceptions or any inequality to it.”
| Court One order of play (13:00 BST start) |
|---|
| [8] Venus Williams (US) v Daria Kasatkina (Rus) |
| [1] Novak Djokovic (Ser) v Sam Querrey (US) |
| [27] Jack Sock (US) v [6] Milos Raonic (Can) |
Rain on Wednesday resulted in a hefty backlog of matches, meaning the remaining second-round encounters will be completed on Friday.
Two of the game’s entertainers, Nick Kyrgios and Dustin Brown, meet in a battle for a place in the third round.
The pair are close friends, having played together for the Singapore Slammers in last year’s International Premier Tennis League.
Also playing their second-round match are Stan Wawrinka and Juan Martin del Potro.
Former US Open champion Del Potro is making his return to Grand Slam action at Wimbledon after battling back from three wrist operations that almost led to him retiring from tennis.
“I was close to quitting at the end of last year but now is completely different,” said the Argentine.
“I’m expecting to be better in the future, but for this year my biggest challenge is to finish healthy and make a good preparation for next year.”
| Court Two order of play (11:00 BST start) |
|---|
| [15] Nick Kyrgios (Aus) v Dustin Brown (Ger) |
| [10] Petra Kvitova (Cze) v Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) |
| Andrey Kuznetsov (Rus) v [5] Kei Nishikori (Jpn) |
| [5] Simona Halep (Rom) v [26] Kiki Bertens (Ned) |
Doubles partners Mahut and Herbert will square-off in the third round
Second seed Andy Murray booked his spot in the third round at The Championships on Thursday by defeating Yen-Hsun Lu 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. He is now 48-9 lifetime at the All England Club, where he captured the 2013 title (d. Djokovic) to end a 77-year wait for a British male champion.
Murray converted seven of his 11 break point opportunities in the one-hour and 40-minute encounter on Centre Court. It was Murray’s 35th match win of the year, which includes a fifth crown at the Aegon Championships. He will now face John Millman for the second time, having won their January 2013 match at Brisbane. Murray has not lost before the third round in his 11 appearances at the grass-court major.
Lu, who had been riding an 11-match winning streak on grass that includes two ATP Challenger Tour titles, opened up the match with a 2-0 lead, but Murray was able to work his way back with service breaks in the sixth and eighth games. Murray withstood two break point opportunities in a 12-point hold to wrap up the 39-minute opener.
From a 1-3 deficit in the first set, Murray won seven straight games to a 2-0 advantage in the second set and seize control of their fifth FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting. The Scot went on another streak from 3-2 in the second set by winning seven successive games to a 4-0 lead in the third set.
John Millman withstood 53 winners from the racquet of Benoit Paire, the No. 26 seed, to finish victorious 7-6(5), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 and reach a Grand Slam championship third round for the second time (also 2016 Australian Open).
Nicolas Mahut will look to record the 150th tour-level match win of his career against his doubles partner and fellow Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the Wimbledon third round.
Mahut advanced the third round for the first time since 2006 (l. to Federer) after he recorded a 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 victory over No. 13 seed David Ferrer in just under two hours. The two-time Ricoh Open titlist hit 44 winners including nine aces, while no rally lasted more than four shots. Herbert, who has partnered Mahut to four doubles trophies this year, struck 16 aces to overcome Damir Dzumhur 3-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(0), 6-2 in two hours and 19 minutes.
Croatian teenager Ana Konjuh bravely battles injury and cheered on by a sympathetic Wimbledon crowd in her second round as she comes close to beating third seed Agnieszka Radwanska on court two.
Watch more action from Wimbledon here.
WATCH MORE: Fognini’s fabulous ‘hot dog’ shot
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| 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 |
Men’s eighth seed Dominic Thiem was beaten in straight sets by Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic on an action-packed day four at Wimbledon.
Austrian Thiem lost three tie-breaks as he fell to a surprise 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) defeat on Court One.
Vesely is one of only two men to defeat Novak Djokovic in 2016 after beating him in April’s Monte Carlo Masters.
Vesely, 64th in the world rankings, plays 31st seed Joao Sousa of Portugal in the third round.
It is only the second time Vesely has reached that stage at Wimbledon, after losing to Australia’s Nick Kyrgios in that round two years ago.
Thiem, the highest-ranked seed to be eliminated from the men’s singles competition, reached the semi-finals of the French Open earlier this year before being beaten by eventual winner Djokovic.
Serbia’s Viktor Troicki was furious with the umpire during his second-round loss to Albert Ramos-Vinolas, calling him the “worst ever in the world”.
The 25th seed, 30, insisted an ace that gave Ramos-Vinolas match point was out, grabbing the ball off a ball boy and presenting it to the umpire.
“Did you see the ball? You are so bad,” Troicki shouted at Italian umpire Damiano Torella.
“Do you know what you did? You are horrible. What are you doing there? You are the worst umpire ever in the world.”
Spaniard Ramos-Vinolas, 28, went on to win 3-6 6-3 6-3 2-6 6-3.
The world number 36 will next face the winner of the match between Richard Gasquet and Marcel Granollers.
Frenchman Gilles Simon, the 16th seed, was knocked out in slippery conditions on Court One by Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.
Dimitrov, 25, won 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 4-6 6-4, but Simon was left feeling disgruntled about the weather conditions throughout their drawn out three hours and two minutes tie.
“I feel the day I’m going to get injured on slippery grass, I’m going to sue everyone in the stadium,” the 31-year-old said.
“We try to understand what is happening in both parties, like tournaments and players – but in one point yesterday it was just ridiculous.”
Spaniard David Ferrer suffered a shock second-round defeat, losing 6-1 6-4 6-3 to unseeded Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.
Thirteenth seed Ferrer, a two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist, was beaten by world number 51 Mahut, who moved into the third round for only the second time.
He will play fellow Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert in round three after he beat Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-6 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-0) 6-2.
There was another surprise exit as big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic was knocked out by Slovakian qualifier Lukas Lacko.
Karlovic, the 23rd seed, hit 34 aces but could not prevent Lacko from winning 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.
Meanwhile, sixth seed Milos Raonic secured his place in the last 32 with a straight-sets win over Andreas Seppi.
The Canadian won 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 6-2.
Ninth seed Marin Cilic joins Raonic in the next round after the Croat beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-2 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 6-4.
Nottingham Open winner Steve Johnson is also through after the American beat Jeremy Chardy 6-1 7-6 (8-6) 6-3, while compatriot Jack Sock overcame Robin Haase.
Sixth seed to face Sock
Milos Raonic played flawless attacking tennis in defeating Andreas Seppi 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday in the second round of Wimbledon. The Canadian did not drop serve and closed out the match with his 25th ace just shy of the two-hour mark.
Raonic started the match with an unplayable 139mph serve and found his range on the return as the match progressed, going 3-for-4 on break points in the final two sets. He fired 41 total winners and won 19 of 26 net points (73 per cent).
The match had been slated for Wednesday but was postponed due to rainy weather. The Canadian was a semi-finalist at SW19 two years ago and is into the third round for the third consecutive year. Last year, he fell to #NextGen star Nick Kyrgios in four sets. The sixth seed improved to 2-0 in the FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against Seppi and will face Jack Sock in the third round.
Sock advanced after overcoming Robin Haase 6-1, 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4. The American saved all six break points faced and struck 53 winners in the two-hour, 16-minute encounter. The 2014 Wimbledon doubles champion (w/ Pospisil) is into the third round for the first time in the singles draw and will need to overcome a 7-1 deficit in the FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup against Raonic in his bid to reach the second week.
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| Wimbledon on the BBC |
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| 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 |
Second seed Garbine Muguruza is out of Wimbledon after losing the second round in straight sets to Slovakia’s world number 124 Jana Cepelova on Thursday.
The 22-year-old French Open winner, who lost last year’s final to Serena Williams, lost 6-3 6-2 on Court One.
It is a second big scalp for Cepelova in as many years at Wimbledon, after knocking out world number three Simona Halep in the first round last year.
The 23-year-old will face Czech 29th seed Lucie Safarova in the third round.