Everything is going Andy Murray’s way so far at this most surprising of Wimbledons.
The Scot has won all nine sets he’s played to reach the fourth round.Then there’s this — the four top-10 men who have already departed were all in his half of the draw: No. 3 Roger Federer, No. 5 Rafael Nadal, No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and No. 10 Marin Cilic. Federer has won seven Wimbledon titles and Nadal two, while Tsonga was a semifinalist in 2011 and 2012.
Entering Saturday, no one seeded higher than 20th was left for No. 2 Murray to possibly face before the final.Then again, that only adds to the ever-surging expectations that he can become the first British man in 77 years to win the championship at the All England Club.
“There’s a lot more pressure on me now, with them being out. I don’t read the papers. But there are papers in the locker room,” Murray said with a chuckle, “so you see some of the headlines. It’s not that helpful.”He put together a strong performance Friday, taking advantage of the zero-wind conditions under Centre Court’s retractable roof to compile 40 winners and only 14 unforced errors in a 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 victory over 32nd-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain.
“You need to be professional enough to not let that stuff bother you and just concentrate on each match,” said Murray, who has won 20 of his past 21 contests on grass, including runs to last year’s final at Wimbledon (where he lost to Federer) and a london Olympics gold medal (by beating Federer).
“I did a good job of that today,” he continued. “I played well. My best match of the tournament.”Murray was on-target throughout — with his serves, his returns, his volleys, his groundstrokes. He won 60 of 80 points on his serve, including 14 of 15 in one stretch. He broke Robredo four straight times, then again in the penultimate game.
Kvitova beat Makarova, enters 4th round
Petra Kvitova avoided becoming the latest former champion to be knocked out in the first week at Wimbledon, rallying from a break down in the final set Saturday to beat Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 and reach the fourth round.
The match had been halted Friday with Makarova up 2-1 in the decider, but the eighth-seeded Kvitova broke right back when play resumed and won the next two games as well. After losing her own serve, the Czech player broke again for a 5-3 lead and then converted her third match point with a forehand winner.
Kvitova won Wimbledon in 2011 but has struggled to match that performance since and has slipped from second to eighth in the rankings. She has a good chance of reaching her second final at the All England Club, however, having seen second-seeded Victoria Azarenka and former champion Maria Sharapova already eliminated on her side of the draw.