Murray sympathy for officials

Andy Murray feels Wimbledon’s Centre Court roof policy is still very much a work in progress.

The world number four was the latest winner in Wimbledon history on Saturday night when he completed his 7-5 3-6 7-5 6-1 victory over Marcos Baghdatis at 11.02pm to move into the fourth round.

The roof has been a real feature of a dramatic first week at the All England Club, with Centre Court covered while Rafael Nadal lost to Lukas Rosol and Roger Federer fought back from two sets down against Julien Benneteau.

It looked very much like Murray would have to come back today to finish the match as the clock reached 11pm, Wimbledon’s curfew, but, with the Scot poised to serve for the match, he was allowed to carry on and duly wrapped up victory in a raucous atmosphere.

Today Murray will face Croatia’s Marin Cilic, who beat the clock himself on Court Two, completing a five-set win over Sam Querrey that went to 17-15 in the decider.

Wimbledon chiefs have come in for criticism for the way they have used the four-year-old roof, particularly on Friday when it was on for the whole day despite there being little rain.

Murray said: “With the roof there’s always going to be some difficult situations for the tournament director or the referee. Yesterday’s match was a perfect example.

“Do we start the match with the roof on so there’s no delays? On Friday I think they got criticised quite a lot because it didn’t rain at all and the roof was shut the whole day, when it shouldn’t have been, because it’s obviously meant to be an outdoor event.

“I think that was probably one that they might have made a mistake on. Apart from that, people want to see tennis. If it does rain, having the roof is a huge benefit because there is always guaranteed matches going on.

“There are always going to be difficult situations when you only have one court with the roof, because obviously for me now it’s an advantage that I got the match finished.

“Other years I would have had to play three sets on Monday. Cilic played 17-15 in the fifth set. I’m sure he would have rather I was having to play three sets on Monday before playing against him.”

Things certainly do not get easier from here for Murray, with Cilic on an eight-match winning streak on grass.

Murray said: “It will be important for me to try to get off to a good start. If you are feeling a little bit tired and you go behind, it can be tough to come back.”

The Scot slipped over a number of times during the Baghdatis match and emerged for the third set under the roof with strapping on his left knee, but he is confident there is no lasting damage.

He added: “There’s nothing I’m too worried about. I’ve got a few bumps and bruises. I fell quite a lot more than I normally do on the grass. I put a new pair of shoes on when the break came with the roof and I moved better after that.”

Meanwhile Serena Williams admits she will have to improve in the second week of Wimbledon if she is to lift her fifth Venus Rosewater dish next Saturday.

Williams wasted little time or energy in seeing off Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and Melinda Czink early last week, but the American was below par in her three-set thriller over China’s Jie Zheng on Saturday.

The 30-year-old lost the first set and needed to dig deep to see off the 25th seed and move into the last 16, where she will face Sara Errani’s tormentor-in-chief Yaroslava Shvedova.

Little was known about Shvedova until Saturday afternoon when she pulled off a golden set — winning 6-0 without dropping a point — against 10th seed Errani.

Much harder opponents than the Kazakh await Williams in the latter stages of the tournament — she is due to face Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka en route to the final — and the 13-time grand slam winner concedes she will have to improve to progress.

“I have to make sure I do better,” Williams said. “Usually I return well but I hit so many errors off my returns against Zheng. I was just off against her, although she played unbelievable. I still think I can play better.”

The first thing on Williams’ agenda will be to succeed where Errani failed and win a point in the first set.

“Someone told me that she got a golden set. I asked them what it was. I never knew it existed,” the four-time Wimbledon champion said.

Shvedova has lost the only meeting between the two players three years ago in straight sets, and this is the first time she has made the fourth round at SW19.

Most of her success has come in the doubles game, but her win over Errani has left Williams wary.

“She’s a really good player and she’s playing well,” added Williams.

“She does everything really well. She’s a solid player. Hopefully I’ll be able to win a point in the first set. That will be my first goal, and then I’ll go from there.”