Wimbledon, England – Three-time semifinalist Andy Murray and three-time runner-up Andy Roddick were a pair of second-round victors Thursday at The Championships, Wimbledon.
The fourth-seeded Murray snuck past massive-serving 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) in just over three hours on Centre Court, while the 30th-seeded Roddick struck 13 aces and was broken only once in getting past speedy German Bjorn Phau 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 in just over two hours on Court 2. Murray broke Karlovic, who smacked 17 aces, four times while being broken only once on a hot and sunny Day 4.
Murray, who reached the semis here the previous three years, is trying to give Britain its first male Wimbledon champion since Fred Perry way back in 1936.
Up next for Murray will be quality Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.
The former world No. 1 and former U.S. Open champion Roddick, who lost to the great Roger Federer in a trio of finals at the venerable All England Lawn Tennis Club, will meet seventh-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer on Saturday.
Ferrer, fresh off his grass-court title in the Netherlands last week, handled France's Kenny de Schepper 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 6-4.
In other action featuring top-10 seeds, No. 5 Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-1, 6-3, No. 9 Argentine Juan Martin del Potro topped Japan's Go Soeda 6-2, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, and No. 10 American Mardy Fish outdistanced Brit James Ward 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3. The former Aussie Open runner-up Tsonga was a Wimbledon semifinalist a year ago, while del Potro is a former U.S. Open champion who has never fared very well at the AELTC.
Fish, playing his first tennis since March this week, needed 4 hours, 13 minutes to stave off the game Ward on Court 1. The American swatted 26 aces en route to the unexpectedly-tough victory.
The 30-year-old Fish will face rising Belgian David Goffin in the round of 32.
Meanwhile, Belgian Xavier Malisse doused 13th-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) and 16th-seeded Croat Marin Cilic dismissed Poland's Lukasz Kubot 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-1. Simon, a member of the ATP Player Council, drew some attention here on Wednesday when he said women should not earn the same prize money as the men at Grand Slam events.
In other action involving seeds, No. 17 Spaniard Fernando Verdasco held off Slovenian Grega Zemlja 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3; No. 19 Japanese Kei Nishikori beat Frenchman Florent Serra 6-3, 7-5, 6-2; France's Benoit Paire upset No. 22 Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 6-4; No. 27 German Philipp Kohlschreiber straight-setted Tunisian Malek Jaziri 6-1, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1; and No. 28 Czech Radek Stepanek erased German Benjamin Becker 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. Stepanek is rewarded with a third-round match against reigning world No. 1 and reigning Wimbledon champ Novak Djokovic.
Additionally, Goffin overcame American Jesse Levine 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3; American comeback kid Brian Baker whipped Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen 6-0, 6-2, 6-4; Colombian Alejandro Falla outlasted Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 7-5; Slovak Lukas Lacko edged out Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; and the former Wimbledon semifinalist Baghdatis got past Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 4-1 when the injured Bulgarian retired in the second set.
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