Murray eyes place in second week
WIMBLEDON
Date: 22 June - 5 July
| By Piers Newbery |
Britain's Andy Murray will attempt to take his Wimbledon campaign into a second week when he plays Serbia's Viktor Troicki on Saturday.
The Scot's third-round match will be third on Centre Court, with a place in the last 16 at stake.
Murray, 22, goes into the match as the strong favourite against 30th seed Troicki, who is in the third round of a Grand Slam for only the second time.
Andy Roddick and Venus Williams are among the others playing on Saturday.
Venus faces Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro in the opening match on Centre at 1300 BST, with Roddick's third-round encounter against Jurgen Melzer to follow.
But it is Murray who will be the centre of attention again as he continues his bid to win a first Grand Slam title and become the first British man to win Wimbledon since 1936.
After a testing opening win over American Robby Kendrick, Murray was on top form in his straight-sets demolition of Ernests Gulbis in round two on Thursday.
 | I think if draws open up and the body feels good and I can execute that kind of style of tennis for over five sets, there's no reason why I can't put a bit of pressure on these guys Lleyton Hewitt |
The Briton made just five unforced errors and served superbly, prompting John McEnroe to say, "I can't ever recall Andy serving bigger or better. Andy showed exactly why he is number three in the world and one of the favourites for the final."
And Murray himself said: "It was very good. I served really good for the whole match, and when I did get myself into a point on his service game I made him work very hard for the points, hit some good passing shots.
"I finished points off really well, didn't make any basic errors, so it was very good."
Troicki is at a career high of 31 in the world but came through a long five-setter against Daniel Gimeno-Traver that finished late on Thursday, and is much more comfortable on hard courts than grass.
He has played Murray twice before, losing both times and winning only one game in their most recent encounter in Miami in March.
"Even in juniors he was always the top and he has improved so much in the last year," said the 23-year-old.
"He's playing great. He's one of the favourites to win it.
"I need to play aggressive, play smart, give my best and hope that I can play my best tennis. I need to believe I can win these matches against the top players."
Troicki will also have to contend with the home crowd, who did not have to help Murray a great deal against Gulbis, such was the third seed's dominance.
"At the big stages of the match, like the end of the second set, the crowd got right behind me," he said.
"When I had break points, they got noisier. A lot of my service games were quite comfortable and a lot of very short points, so I guess it would have been tough to get really, really into the match.
"There weren't that many long rallies but when I needed the support, it was always there."
One man who got vociferous backing on Thursday was 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt, who knocked out fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro, and the Australian takes on Germany's Philipp Petzschner in Saturday's second match on Court Two.
Asked if he felt he could challenge for the title, Hewitt said: "Absolutely. I think there's been patches this year when I've played extremely well. It's taken some of the best players to beat me in the bigger tournaments.
"I think if draws open up and the body feels good and I can execute that kind of style of tennis for over five sets, there's no reason why I can't put a bit of pressure on these guys."
World number one Dinara Safina will follow Hewitt and Petzschner onto Court Two and victory over Belgian Kirsten Flipkens will take the Russian into the fourth round for the first time.
"I'm definitely feeling better this year than previous years, so hopefully this year I can go through step-by-step," she said.
