Murray leads British quartet into third round
ANDY Murray made light work of crowd-pleaser Dustin Brown to cap a brilliant day for British players at Wimbledon.
The world number one’s 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory over Brown meant success for all four home singles players on Wednesday, with Murray’s win following those of Johanna Konta, Heather Watson and Aljaz Bedene.
It is the first time in 20 years that Britain has four players into the third round of the singles, and Kyle Edmund could make that five when he takes on Gael Monfils today.
Murray has been used to providing Centre Court drama over the years but this time he followed it after Konta’s three-hour epic against Donna Vekic.
Konta won a gripping encounter against Croatia’s Vekic 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 10-8 in three hours and 10 minutes.
Watson saw off Latvian 18th seed Anastasija Sevastova 6-0 6-4, and Bedene beat Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-3.
It is the first time since Tim Henman, Mark Petchey, Greg Rusedski, Andrew Richardson and Karen Cross made the third round in 1997 that at least four Britons have reached that stage.
Murray said: “I felt the momentum was with me, I was starting to see the shots he was going to play a little bit quicker and that allowed me to get to some of the drop volleys and also to come up with some good passing shots.
“I played well. The last three games I didn’t serve particularly well, but the rest of the match I served well, I was getting a lot of free points there, serving a lot bigger than I was in the first round which is good.
“He wasn’t able to attack my second serve like he tries to do, so that was positive.
“I think I moved pretty well too. Against guys that play a lot of drop shots and come forward you need to move well and I did that.”
Asked about his hip, Murray told the BBC: “It’s OK. I’ve moved well the first couple of matches. It hasn’t affected me.
“I’ve been getting good practices in and I feel good. Hopefully it stays that way.
“So far I’ve been very happy with how I’ve been feeling on the court. It’s been a good start and hopefully I can keep it going.”