FOUR-MIDABLE!
Historic day at Wimbledon as 4 Brits make Third Round for first time in 20 years
British tennis stars made history yesterday with a series of stunning victories at Wimbledon.
As crowds sweltered in temperatures that hit 84F, four players made it through to the third round in a performance unheard of for two decades.
Andy Murray, Johanna Konta, heather Watson and Aljaz Bedene all won their matches on the third day of play.
And Murray, the No 1 seed urged his compatriots to do more. ‘Let’s aim to try and go further … there is not a problem with falling short of high targets’, he said.
the last time four British players made it to the round of 32 was in 1997 – when tim henman and Greg rusedski led our title hopes.
it is also the best showing for British women at Wimbledon in more than 30 years. the last time two British women made it to the third round was in 1986.
British number ones Andy Murray and Johanna Konta wowed Centre Court in two thrilling battles – less than a week after injury scares left their performances at the championships in doubt.
Murray, 30, who took one hour and 36minutes to wipe out dreadlocked Dustin Brown in straight sets, said: ‘Aim as high as you can. Why not try and get five, six players into the quarterfinals of slams? Why not? it’s better to set a goal as high as you can and fall a bit short than go: “Yeah we are delighted with five or six players in the second or third round of a slam”.’
it came after world number 102 heather Watson, 25, delivered a stunning straight sets win against a player ranked 83 places above her. in little over an hour, Watson powered to victory against Latvian Anastasija sevastova 6-0 6-4.
World number 58 Aljaz Bedene, 27, also served up an impressive win again Damir Dzumhur. Next was Johanna Konta, 26, who won after a nail-biting match on centre court, seeing off opponent Donna Vekic in an epic tie that lasted over three hours.
the final win came from Murray. Despite having only just recovered from a period of hip pain, he last night said he believed he could win the championship for the third year running. ‘i can win for sure. it’s going to be extremely difficult…but it’s possible.’
he added that the prospect of Konta winning the women’s final was also ‘really exciting’ but said: ‘i still say it’s unlikely, but it’s possible.’
Konta said it had been one of ‘the most epic’ matches she had ever played. ‘i feel very fortunate to have come through that…it was a great battle to be a part of,’ she said.
Of the prospect of making it through to the second week of Wimbledon, Watson said: ‘it’s been one of my goals forever. Making second week would be huge for me.’