Thursday, June 23, 2011

Wimbledon - Murray downs Kamke to progress

Wed, 22 Jun 19:21:00 2011

Home hope Andy Murray reached the third round at Wimbledon with a routine 6-3 6-3 7-5 win over German Tobias Kamke
Murray's win over Kamke was so routine that the British number one was barely quizzed about the match.
Instead, the Scot was grilled about what film he had watched on Tuesday (Scream), what movie he plans to watch before his next match (Scream II and Scream III) and what he thinks about the row erupting erupted over a united British football team at the London 2012 Olympics.
"I don't want to get into any of that political stuff. I've been involved in the Olympics, played under Great Britain, and it was an unbelievable experience," fourth seed Murray said.
"I loved it. It's not for me to decide. It's up to the federations, that they can decide.
"Certainly not getting drawn into any political stuff around this time of year, because we know what happens with that," grinned Murray, who once got into hot water after proclaiming he always backed the team facing England in a football match.
The British Olympic Association angered Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales by trumpeting a 'historic agreement' for Britain to field a united team at the London Games after a 52-year absence.
The three associations oppose the idea of their players joining any Team GB as they fear their independent status on the world soccer map could be jeopardised.
As far as tennis is concerned, Murray has pretty much represented, and carried the hopes, of Team GB on his own shoulders for almost six years and he is once again mentally prepared for Murray-mania to engulf the tournament.
However, before his fans get carried away with hopes that the 24-year-old could end Britain's 75-year wait for a British men's champion, he warned of a potential horror show when he faces big-serving Ivan Ljubicic in round three, after the Croat beat Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-4 6-2 6-2.
"The matches are going to get very tough," said Murray.
"I play Ljubicic now. I've lost to him a few times. A tough player. So I expect that to be a difficult match.
"He serves well. That always makes it difficult. His best results are on grass, which is surprising for someone that serves like him. So that obviously makes it tricky."
Britain’s Laura Robson also recorded a victory on Wednesday although her prize was a place in the second round, after her match had been delayed by rain on Tuesday.
The 17-year-old, who won junior Wimbledon three years ago, displayed a spirited performance to beat Germany’sAngelique Kerber 4-6 7-6(4) 6-3.
Robson got off to a flying start when she broke Kerber early on, only to lose four straight games and see the first set disappear.
The Australia-born Brit rallied in the second set, sticking with Kerber until the ninth game when she snatched what looked likely to be the decisive break.
But Kerber broke back immediately before Robson recovered her composure to force the tie-break and then take the set with a huge first serve the German could not return.
With momentum firmly on her side Robson stormed into a double break 4-0 lead in the second set before Kerber could get on the scoreboard.
An injury timeout at 4-1 for the German to receive some attention to her left shoulder threatened to disrupt Robson’s rhythm as she dropped serve on the resumption.
But the 17-year-old once again managed to battle back and re-established her double break lead in the eighth game before serving out to set up a second round clash with fifth seed Maria Sharapova.
Heather Watson suffered a cruel blow when she crashed out of the tournament after injuring her right elbow in a 2-6 6-4 6-4 loss to France’s Mathilde Johansson.
After a nervy opening service game when she was forced to save break points, the 19-year-old was firmly in control throughout the first set and stormed into the lead with a series of huge ground-strokes.
Watson continued in much the same vein early in the second set before securing a break in the seventh game that caused Johansson to throw her racquet in disgust.
But a seemingly innocuous serve in the previous game caused Watson to sustain an injury to her right elbow and, after grabbing the break and receiving heavy strapping that prevented her from straightening her arm fully, she dropped three straight games and the second set with it.
The former US Open junior champion battled valiantly in the final set, even breaking to go ahead early on. But she was clearly severely hampered on serve and eventually fell to her French opponent.
British number three Anne Keothavong also crashed out of the tournament, comprehensively beaten 6-2 6-1 in the second round by Czech eighth seed, and last year’s semi-finalist, Petra Kvitova.

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