Andy Murray made it through to the last 16 with victory over Australia’s John Millman at Wimbledon on Saturday, with the news of Novak Djokovic’s shock defeat buzzing overhead.
Murray beat Millman 6-3, 7-5, 6-2, after the world number 67 put up some stern resistance on Centre Court.
The Scot is now the highest seed in the draw at number two following Djokovic’s loss to American Sam Querrey minutes earlier.
Murray will now face another Australian, Nick Kyrgios, or Spain’s Feliciano Lopez in round four on Monday.
“I thought it was a good match, a lot of long rallies. John moves well and doesn’t make too many unforced errors,” Murray later said in an interview.
“When you go indoors it slows the conditions down a bit. So, it wasn’t easy to hit too many winners.
“I had to be patient and played some good stuff in the third set.’’
The Wimbledon Centre Court had felt unusually like a sideshow for the first two sets with Djokovic struggling over on court one.
But news of the top seed’s defeat drew a huge cheer when it flashed up on the scoreboard.
Murray appeared not to notice as he sat during the changeover, with the task at hand occupying his thoughts as Millman proved a stubborn opponent.
The match was unexpectedly interrupted by rain before the decision was made to bring the roof across and Murray required two breaks of serve to clinch the first set.
A fierce return on the baseline gave Murray a seemingly decisive lead at 4-3 in the second but Millman would not go away.
He broke the Briton as he served for the set, leveling at 5-5.
There were fist pumps on both sides of the net in a gripping 11th game of the set before Murray finally converted his fifth chance.
It was exhilarating, as his support team got to their feet to urge on their man from the player box.
Murray closed out the set from 15-30 and then raced 4-0 clear on his way to taking the third, and securing a place in week two without dropping a set.
