After beating Australia’s John Millman in straight sets, Olympic champion Andy Murray insists Novak Djokovic’s loss will mean nothing unless he makes the final of Wimbledon.
Murray was made to work by the 27-year-old, but came through to win 6-3 7-5 6-2 and book a meeting against either the enigmatic Nick Kyrgios or the big forehand of Feliciano Lopez.
After Murray’s win all the talk was of Djokovic’s shock loss to America’s Sam Querrey on Court One but the 2013 champion refused to accept the result would make his route to a second title any easier.
“I need to reach the final for that result to have any bearing whatsoever on my performance at all,” said the 29-year-old.
“I have very, very tough guys left in my half of the draw and especially the next round.
“Novak’s run has been amazing, he almost found a way to get back into that one but what he has done in the last 12-18 months, I do not think we will see for a long, long time.
“It’s unfortunate for him but an amazing run he has been on.”
Murray exchanged early breaks with Millman in the first set but broke again when leading 3-2 to take the decisive lead and clinch the opener 6-3.
A rain interruption meant the roof was closed in between the first and second sets and when they returned Murray struggled a little with the conditions.
The match was decided at the end of the second though as Millman fought back from 5-3 down only to be broken after an exhausting game at 5-5 and Murray served out for a two-set lead.
Murray then ran away with the final set, breaking twice to take it 6-2 book his place in the second week.
“The second set was tough, when you go indoors it slows the conditions down a little bit and it wasn’t easy to get through the court and hit too many winners,” he added.
“I was under a bit of pressure but held strong there. It was the most important part of the match, the end of the second set.
“I had to be a little bit more patient but I played some good stuff in the third set.”
Elsewhere, in another rain-affected day at SW19, there was doubles success for Rio-bound Heather Watson as she teamed up with Naomi Broady to beat Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Cagla Buyukakcay 7-6 6-4 in the first round.
In the men’s draw the Skupski brothers, Neal and Ken, upset the seventh seeds, Lukasz Kubot and Alexander Peya 2-6 7-6 11-9 in their first round encounter.
And 2012 doubles champion Jonny Marray breezed into the second round with his partner Adil Shamasdin, beating Dustin Brown and Jan Lennard-Struff 6-3 6-4.
While earlier in the day Dominic Inglot continued his promising new partnership with Canada’s Daniel Nestor by beating Italian duo Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi 6-2 7-6 in the opening round.
Fellow Brits Brydan Klein and Alex Ward went out though, losing 4-6 5-7 to Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers in the first round.
As did Dan Evans and Lloyd Glasspool, losing in the 4-6 2-6 in the first round to Lukas Rosol and Malek Jaziri.
It was a similar story for Kyle Edmund and James Ward who lost 7-6 3-6 4-6 to Diego Schwartzman and Federico Delbonis.
In the women’s draw Tara Moore could not match her singles performance and went out in the first round, losing 0-6 5-7 to Monica Puig and Mariana Duque-Marino, with her Swiss partner Conny Perrin.
Finally, in the mixed doubles competition, Inglot returned to court to team up with Laura Robson and beat Yafan Wang and Andreas Siljestrom 6-4 6-4, in the first round.
