Seppi duly served out the set and there was tension inside a partisan Centre Court as a thunderous forehand victor saw Seppi break again at the start of the fourth, prompting Murray to call the trainer.
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Murray, the 2013 champion, showed none of chinks that led him to being broken three times in a set on Tuesday, appearing to be on auto pilot as he bullied Haas into submission, 6-1, 6-1, 6-4.
“Most of the points were played from the back of the court today but against Ivo, he’s going to be coming to the net a lot and he has served very well this tournament“. Murray won the next six games to see out the clash, walloping down an ace on matchpoint as if to highlight just what a good job had been done on his stiffening joint.
The delectable lob that bounced off the Scot’s racket gave him a 4-1 advantage and effectively broke Haase’s spirit as the 2013 champion sprinkled his opponent’s half of the court with 25 glorious winners to sprint to a 6-1 6-1 6-4 second-round win.
“I expect a tough match”, Murray said.
“My racquet went like this, and then it hit like here, and then boom, boom”, Karlovic said at his post-match news conference, holding out his right arm to demonstrate.
This time, though, he’s joined in the third round by James Ward making it the first time since 2002 that two British men have made it this far.
Andy Murray was at his imperious best as he jettisoned Dutchman Robin Haase at Wimbledon on Thursday.
Murray had won all six of the pair’s previous encounters and he looked set to take a giant stride to enhancing that 100% record when he clinched a double break with a fine cross-court forehand. Isner lost two games after play resumed and was eliminated by US Open victor Miran Cilic.
Jelena Jankovic came from a set and a break down to beat defending champion Petra Kvitova in the third round at Wimbledon.
American Isner, who beat Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the longest match in history, an 11 hour five minute epic in the first round of Wimbledon in 2010, will be hoping to avoid a similar scoreline. She finally converted her second match point in the tiebreaker with a backhand volley victor.
With No. 1 Novak Djokovic having won in on Friday, Murray stayed on pace with No. 2 Roger Federer, who breezed through an early match on Saturday.
Federer dropped a set for the first time this week but never looked in real trouble against Sam Groth, beating the hard-serving Australian 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 in the third round Saturday.
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“Towards the end of the second set it was tightening up next to my shoulder blade, and when he took the injury time-out it cooled down a bit, so the trainer came out and manipulated my back with a few cracks”.
