Murray plays down progress

Andy Murray roars into the second week of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time today maintaining he has little chance of extending his Wimbledon glory run much further.

With England tumbling out of the World Cup, Murray knows he will carry an extra burden of expectation into his fourth round clash with Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.

The way he saw off third seed Andy Roddick in straight sets on Saturday suggested Murray has every opportunity of battling further towards Sunday’s showpiece final.

But the 19-year-old is keen to play down such a prospect, insisting: “Lleyton Hewitt is the highest seed in my section – I wouldn’t really expect to get past him in the quarter-finals if I had to play him.

“That is the thing about tennis. I can play like that one day and I can show up on Monday and play badly. If I play like that, I think I have a good chance of winning my next match.”

The 21-year-old Baghdatis is enjoying a career-best season having reached the final of the Australian Open and secured a place inside the world’s top 20 for the first time.

He proved his own grass-court pedigree with a four-set win over two-time semi-finalist Sebastien Grosjean but has been hampered by a buttock strain during the tournament.

Baghdatis said: “Last year, I didn’t like grass but this year I do. I am starting to have experience on it and it is a matter of time before I start to feel good on it, so I guess I like it.”

Murray is conscious that he finds himself in the unlikely position of starting favourite against his higher-ranked opponent, on the basis of the way he batted aside the challenge of Roddick.

At the precise moment England were paying the penalty in Gelsenkirchen, Murray was holding his own nerve to edge a first set tie-break against the American two-time finalist.

And more audacious service returns and drop volleys enabled the young Scot to canter to a repeat of his famous February win over Roddick in San Jose which led to his first ATP Tour title.

Few are daring to suggest history is about to repeat itself in the biggest tournament of all, but the fans thronging Centre Court today now do so more out of expectation than hope.

“You don’t get crowds as big as this cheering you on at any other tournament,” said Murray. “I got a feel for it last year. It is really special. It makes you raise your game a little bit higher.

“I think I will get more support now than I would have done. If England had played badly in the World Cup and lost in the group stages, I think there would have been more pressure in the first week.

“If I’d lost in the first round and England had lost in the first round it would have been a lot of negative press. But I think now I’ll have more support than I did a couple of days ago.”