Britain's Queen Elizabeth II left the All England Club nodding her approval after watching the British No 1 Andy Murray sparkle in the sunshine at Wimbledon yesterday. It is 33 years since she handed over the women's singles trophy to British heroine Virginia Wade, and Murray will hope her return will be a good omen in his mission to end a 74-year wait for a home men's champion. The world No 4's royal etiquette was exemplary as he and opponent Jarkko Nieminen both bowed immaculately in front of the Royal Box, and his tennis was regal too as he took his opponent apart after a slightly self-conscious opening game.
"He had a few break points in the first game. Then once I managed to hold that game, I obviously got the break straight away and that settled me down a little bit," Murray said after reaching the third round with a classy 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory. Asked whether his bowing was up to scratch, Murray was not so sure. "I saw the second one when I was warming down," he said. "They were replaying it. It wasn't great I don't think."
Murray is seeded to face Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals but for a while yesterday the Spaniard's immediate future in the tournament looked in jeopardy against Dutchman Robin Haase. Top seed and defending champion Federer has scrapped his way through the opening two rounds, dropping three sets in the process, but now it was Nadal's turn to sweat. The Spaniard lost the first and third sets and looked in trouble before emerging with a 5-7 6-2 3-6 6-0 6-3 victory.
"I'm very happy to win in five sets," Nadal, who will play Germany's Philipp Petzschner, said. "Everybody prefers to win in three, but is not possible a lot of times, especially on this surface because it all depends on a few points." Despite Nicolas Mahut's record-breaking defeat it was a good day for the Frenchmen. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's 6-4 6-4 6-7 5-7 10-8 victory over Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine was one of several French successes that slipped under the radar.
Jeremy Chardy and Julien Benneteau were also taken the distance in reaching the third round where they join countrymen Arnaud Clement and Gael Monfils who play Federer and Lleyton Hewitt respectively today. Women's top seed Serena Williams took out her frustration at not playing in front of the Queen by thrashing Russia's Anna Chakvetadze 6-0 6-1 on Court Two. "The only way to console me was that I just saw so many kids, these little girls, these little boys. I gave some things away. It was fun," she said of her appearance on a court that rarely hosts defending champions.
There were few surprises in women's second-round actiom. Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion, beat Romania's Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-1 6-4 while the third seed Caroline Wozniacki overcame Taiwan's Chang Kai-Chen 6-4 6-3. Poland's seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska beat Alberta Brianti of Italy 6-2 6-0 but China's 23rd seed Zheng Jie fell, losing in three sets to Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic. * Reuters