London, June 26 (DPA) Andy Murray suddenly found himself a 2-1 bookies favourite for a breakthrough Wimbledon Championships title next week after crushing Ernests Gulbis 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 to storm into the third round Thursday.
The third-seeded Scot was joined as a runaway winner by veteran campaigner Lleyton Hewitt as the Australian rekindled memories of his title on the lawns seven years ago through a knockout of fifth seed Juan Del Potro 6-3, 7-5, 7-5.
Murray managed in just under 90 minutes with just five unforced errors as he blew away Latvia’s best in Gulbis, who had sparked the flames by saying the Scot employed gamesmanship in a previous meeting in 2008.
Murray let his racket give the answer in the rout. “After he had chances in the first couple of games and I saved them I really relaxed. I didn’t give him many opportunities and served very well.
“I made more returns and felt a lifted my level from the first round.”
Also going through were sixth seed Andy Roddick, a 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 winner over Igor Kunitsyn, and French eighth seed Gilles Simon, who beat Thiago Alves 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Russian 12th seed Nikolay Davydenko and number 16 David Ferrer, sneaked in under the radar to advance.
The 56th-ranked Hewitt, who underwent hip surgery last summer, is finding form at precisely the right moment.
“I executed perfectly, hit the ball great,” said the two-time Grand Slam champion. “I served unbelievable for most of the match, took it to him right from the start.
“I was pretty happy with the way I played. It was a big win.
“I wanted to beat a top five guy and these are the places you want to do it. I’ve got a lot of respect for Del Potro. He’s a great player, and he’s only going to get better.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match, but I was up for it from the start.”
It marked Hewitt’s 33rd win at Wimbledon, and broke a losing streak against Top Five players going back 15 matches. He last beat a member of the elite at Hamburg, 2007 over then-number three Nikolay Davydenko.
The four leading women’s seed in action were truly untested, with all producing straight-set victories.
Top seed Dinara Safina beat Rossana De Los Rios 6-3, 7-5 while a pair of reigning women’s Grand Slam champions in Svetlana Kuznetsova and Venus Williams leading the way.
Ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki crushed Maria Kirilenko 6-0, 6-4.
Fifth seed Kuznetsova tuned up on grass after losing in her only warm-up match last week, earning a win over France’s Pauline Parmentier 6-1, 6-3.
“I think I played great today, I was happy with my performance,” said Kuznetsova. “I was pretty excited to be out there and I think I played that way right from the start.
“It was not an easy match. She’s been serving well, I surprised myself today.”
Five-time All England club queen Williams, the third seed, was equally ruthless with Kateryna Bondarenko 6-3, 6-2.
Ana Ivanovic, the number one a year ago, stopped Italian Sara Errani 7-5, 6-1, coming back from 5-3 down in a shaky first set.
“I’m just going back to basics and working hard for each point,” said the Serb 13th seed. “That’s what I’ve been doing the last couple of matches. It makes me feel much better out there, much more comfortable.”
rounak