LONDON - When a 19-stroke exchange ended with Andy Murray’s Wimbledon opponent slapping a forehand into the net, thousands of Centre Court spectators rose in unison.
They applauded Murray’s first service break. They screamed for joy. They waved their Union Jacks and Scottish flags.
It was only a third-round match, merely 12 minutes and three games old, yet to some that tiny early edge seemed massively meaningful.
So imagine the reaction when the second-seeded Murray finished off his 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 victory over 32 nd-seededTommy Robredo of Spain less than two hours later Friday to advance to Week 2. Then try to fathom what would happen if Murray were to win the final point of The Championships, as the Grand Slam tournament is known around here, and become the first British man in 77 years to hoist the trophy.
“You need to be professional enough to not let that stuff bother you and just concentrate on each match,” said Murray, who has won 20 of his past 21 contests on grass, including runs to last year’s final at the All England Club and a London Olympics gold medal. “I did a good job of that today. I played well. My best match of the tournament, so far.”
The locals’ hopes that Murray will follow up his 2012 U.S. Open victory with another major title, this time at Wimbledon, only increased in the aftermath of surprisingly early losses this week by seven-time champion Roger Federer, two-time winner Rafael Nadal and two-time semifinalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
All were seeded in the top six, and all were on Murray’s half of the draw. Their departures mean the most daunting obstacle in Murray’s path - until a potential final against No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic, anyway - might very well be surging expectations.
“There’s a lot more pressure on me now, with them being out,” Murray said after compiling 40 winners and only 14 unforced errors against Robredo, taking advantage of the zero-wind conditions under the closed retractable roof.
“I mean, I don’t read the papers and stuff, but there are papers in the locker room,” Murray said. “So you see some of the headlines and stuff. It’s not that helpful.”
Nadal’s stunning firstround exit, for example, was viewed mainly through the prism of how that result helped Murray, who could have faced the 12-time major champion in the semifinals. “Adios Rafa. Hello Andy.Wimbledon dreams again,” read a headline in The Times of London. The Daily Mail’s take: “Great start for Andy - Rafa’s out.”
All in all, Friday was a perfectly British day, and not simply because Murray won his third straight-set match in a row. The lone other remaining singles player from the host country, 19-year-old Laura Robson, made her way into the third round at Wimbledon for the first time, defeating 117th-ranked qualifier Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia 6-4, 6-1.
That match, like Murray’s, was played with the Centre Court covered because of rain that played havoc with the schedule, and Robson heard her share of rowdy support, too. She also was serenaded with the “Awwwwwww” that often accompanies a mistake by a player the crowd really cares about.
“I love when people get involved,” Robson said. “Sometimes they do, like, a massive groan if I hit a double-fault, but I’m doing it as well. So, yeah, we’re just living it together.”
A few hours after Robson’s match ended, putting her in Wimbledon’s third round for the first time, a bookmaker sent out a release noting that her odds of winning the tournament went from 80-1 to 33-1.
Robson eliminated 10th-seeded Maria Kirilenko in the first round, part of a wild first week. Four top-10 men and six top-10 women have already lost, equaling the worst performance by the highest seeds at any Grand Slam tournament in the 45-year history of the Open era.
It’s a common sight at major tournaments: An unknown player knocks out a big name, then fails to follow it up with another victory.
The same thing happened to 66th-ranked Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, who went from beating 12th-seeded Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open titlist, Wednesday to losing to No. 19 Carla Suarez Navarro 7-5, 6-2 on Friday. And 131st-ranked qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal, who eliminated four-time major champion Maria Sharapova in the second round, bowed out 7-5, 6-2 against 104 thranked Karin Knapp of Italy in the third.
Among Friday’s noteworthy results: Grega Zemlja became the first Slovenian man to reach Wimbledon’s third round by edging No. 29 Grigor Dimitrov 11-9 in the fifth setof a match suspended by rain Thursday night and interrupted again Friday; No. 24 Jerzy Janowicz’s serves reached 140 mph and he delivered 30 aces in a straight-set victory over No. 15 Nicolas Almagro; No. 4 David Ferrer, the runner-up to Nadal at the French Open, also won, as did 35-year-old Tommy Haas.
In women’s play, wild-card entry Alison Riske gave the United States a fourth woman in the round of 32 and plays today against Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, who defeated No. 7 Angelique Kerber 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3.
Riske joins countryman Serena Williams, the defending champion; No. 17 Sloane Stephens; and Madison Keys. Stephens’ third-round match against Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic was suspended Friday night because of fading light after they split the first two sets. Two other matches were halted in progress, one with 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova trailing No. 25 Ekaterina Makarova 2-1 in the third set.
Showers delayed play on a start-and-stop day, and four scheduled men’s matches never even got going.
Even though he was able to face Robredo thanks only to the roof that was installed in 2009, Murray said he’s not a big fan.
“It’s an outdoor tournament,” Murray said. “It’s better if we get to play outside.”
Sports, Pages 19 on 06/29/2013