Murray urges GB hopefuls to set the bar higher
ANDY MURRAY insisted expectations must be higher after four British players reached round three of the singles at Wimbledon for the first time in 20 years.
The world No 1’s 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory over Dustin Brown meant there was success for all four home singles players yesterday, with Murray’s win following those of Johanna Konta, Heather Watson and Aljaz Bedene.
Kyle Edmund could make that five when he takes on Gael Monfils today, but Murray feels celebrations should be tempered.
He said: “It’s obviously good to have more players playing in the slams and winning matches.
“I know Heather and Jo won today. I saw Aljaz won, too. Hopefully we can keep going.
“I wouldn’t say this is the target, to get like five players into the third round.
“Obviously we want to try and do better than that.
“Aim as high as you can. Like why not try and get five, six players into the quarter-finals of slams? It’s better to set the goal as high as possible and fall a little bit short than go, ‘Yeah, we’re delighted with five or six players in the second or third round of a slam’.
“It’s not to say that getting to the third round isn’t good, but some of the players, like Kyle and Heather and Jo, they’re capable of doing more than that.”
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 is through to the third round at Wimbledon for the first time and, as an established member of the top 10, has been tipped as a potential winner.
So could Britain complete a clean sweep of the singles titles?
“I have never thought about that, but obviously it’s not impossible,” said Murray.
“It would be amazing if that was the case. I still say it’s unlikely, but it’s possible. Jo has played extremely well the last 18 months.
“She’s certainly good enough to win the tournament here. She got through a great match today.
“I believe that I can have a good run here. I can win, for sure. It’s going to be extremely difficult – but it’s possible.
“That’s obviously exciting for any tennis fans in the country to have players going deep in both the women’s and the men’s draw at slams.”
As soon as Murray won the first set against Brown it was clear the joy in their contest would come from the shot-making rather than the competitiveness.
Brown, a German-Jamaican with dreadlocks reaching down to his waist, is one of tennis’s born entertainers and the unorthodox nature of his game can cause problems for the best.
He famously beat Rafael Nadal at the same stage of Wimbledon two years ago, but Centre Court is Murray’s stage and the world No 1 did not allow himself to be bullied.
Tennis players love rhythm and Brown provides none, mixing 128mph second serves – his fastest serve was a second serve – with languid volleys and drop shots before throwing in a thumping backhand or two.
But Murray has some of the best hands in the game and was rarely outmanoeuvred.
He continued to limp but it was clear there should not be too much concern about his right hip as he scurried all over the court.
Murray said: “It was a good match from my end. I served well until really the last few games. I returned well. I didn’t make many mistakes. I hit a lot of good passing shots. So I was really happy with it, obviously.”
The victory maintains the 30-year-old’s record of never having lost before the third round of Wimbledon, and he moves through to a meeting with flashy Italian Fabio Fognini on Friday.
Brown could do little but admire his opponent’s performance, with the pair sharing a friendly exchange at the net.
“I just said, ‘Too good’, basically,” said Brown. “’Thanks for that lesson.’
“If he has a problem with his hip, I don’t want to play against him when his hip is good.
“I hit a lot of drop shots in the beginning, tried to get him in to see how the hip is, pull him into the forehand. From my opinion, he doesn’t really care about any of that stuff. “He played really well. “Most of the guys you play, you can try to find a way where you know you can hurt them. But today I had the feeling it made no difference what I did.
“When he was hitting ridiculous shots, I just laughed and said, ‘Good job, let’s see if he does it again’. He did it for three sets.”
Marcus Willis thrilled the Wimbledon crowd again as last year’s unlikely hero made a triumphant return in the doubles.
The 26-year-old, who battled through qualifying to face Roger Federer on Centre Court 12 months ago, failed to make it into the main draw in the singles this year.
But he and fellow Briton Jay Clarke, 18, were the darlings of a smaller, but equally raucous, crowd on Court Nine.
The duo fell two sets down to Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan of India and American Jared Donaldson but battled back to win 6-7 (4-7) 5-7 7-6 (7-3) 6-0 6-3. RAFAEL NADAL reached the third round of Wimbledon for the first time since 2014 after the Spaniard cruised past American Donald Young in straight sets.
Nadal endured a second-round loss to Dustin Brown in 2015 and missed last year’s tournament through injury, but his bid to secure a 16th grand slam title this fortnight was never put in danger on Centre Court.
He needed just over two hours to see off Young 6-4 6-2 7-5 and the world No 2 will now face the talented Russian Karen Khachanov for a place in the last 16.
“It was a good match again, almost all the time more or less under control,” said Nadal.
“It’s true that in the third I served a little bit worse. But in general terms, I am happy. I played well.”
Kei Nishikori, the ninth seed from Japan, dropped a set against Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky but still ran out a 6-4 6-7 (7/9) 6-1 7-6 (8/6) winner.
Two-time semi-finalist JoWilfried Tsonga, seeded 17th this year, claimed a 6-1 7-5 6-2 victory over Simone Bolelli of Italy.
“I think I can play even better,” said Tsonga. “And I have to if I want to do better in this tournament.”
But Tsonga’s fellow Frenchman Lucas Pouille, the 14th seed, was a surprise 7-6 (7/4) 7-6 (7/5) 3-6 6-1 loser to Jerzy Janowicz of Poland.
Gilles Muller of Luxembourg came through a marathon fivesetter 9-7 in the decider against Czech Lukas Rosol and the 16th seed will face Britain’s Aljaz Bedene in round three.
Petra Kvitova had mixed feelings as she failed to live up to her billing as one of the Wimbledon favourites after she crashed out to Madison Brengle.
The Czech had poured scorn on suggestions she could win Wimbledon just six weeks after returning to action following a knife attack which left her career in doubt, and she was proven right as American Brengle, the world No 95, won 6-3 1-6 6-2.
Kvitova had to undergo surgery to save the fingers on her left hand after an intruder attacked her in her flat just before Christmas, but it looked as she had never been away as she took the Aegon Classic title in Birmingham last month having returned to action at the French Open.
“No one knows how hard I had to work to be back, so probably that feels more disappointing than it normally is,” the 11th seed said. “But on the other hand, it’s been great to be here again. I mean, it was my goal to play this event this year and I did.”