Andy Murray lifted by Federer's exit

ANDY MURRAY'S chances of breaking a 77-year British sporting jinx at Wimbledon have been dramatically enhanced by the shock elimination of Roger Federer.

Murray maintains focus

ANDY MURRAY'S chances of breaking a 77-year British sporting jinx at Wimbledon have been dramatically enhanced by the shock elimination of Roger Federer, the defending champion.

The decimation of the lower half of the men's singles draw leaves the Scot with Nicolas Almagro, the No15 seed, as his highest-ranked opponent on a route to the final that lacks the presence of both Marin Cilic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who were among seven withdrawals on a day of injury chaos.

Two of Murray's potential danger men headed for the exit of the All England Club on a crazy day that will go down in the record books for the number of singles matches abandoned mid-flow - or before they had even begun - during a single day of play. The previous record at Wimbledon was five.

As his rivals' ambitions slipped away as quickly as a tennis shoe on the slick surface of the show courts, Murray placed a foot firmly in the third round after dispatching Lu Yen-hsun, of Taiwan, in just two hours.

His business like 6-3 6-3 7-5 victory on No1 Court, avenging an embarrassing defeat at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, set up a third-round tie with Tommy Robredo, the No32 seed from Spain. Murray served 11 aces and hit 41 winners in his second consecutive straight-sets win this week.

But it was the premature departure of Federer - his earliest since losing in the first round in 2002 and at any grand-slam championship since the 2003 French Open - that created the feeling that Murray has his best chance of winning the tournament.

Federer, the world No3, lost 6-7 7-6 7-5 7-6 to Sergiy Stakhovsky, a Ukrainian ranked No116 in the world, in front of a stunned Centre Court crowd who afforded the seven-times champion a standing ovation.

Federer dismissed any end-of-an-era discussion, however, saying that he would recover from a "disappointing setback" to grace the grass of SW19 again. "It's the 24-hour rule," he said. You don't panic at this point. I still have plans to play for many more years to come. This clearly was not what I was hoping for, but it happens. I am looking forward to next year."

Murray's win came soon after Tsonga, the sixth seed, pulled out of his second-round match against Ernests Gulbis, of Latvia, whom he was trailing two sets to one. The Frenchman appeared to blame the cold British summer rather than the court, but others among the seven casualties of the day were more forthright in laying the blame at the feet of the groundstaff of the All England Club.

Victoria Azarenka, the women's No2 seed, was the most forthright in her complaints after she was unable to start her second-round match against Flavia Pennetta, of Italy, because of a knee problem caused by an awkward slip during her opening-day match.

"Obviously, I slipped," she said. "Because of something like this, there is nothing I have done wrong which cost me to just withdraw from Wimbledon. It would be great if the club or somebody who takes care of the court just would examine or try to find an issue so that wouldn't happen."

Caroline Wozniacki, the former world No1, slipped during her loss to Petra Cetkovska and appeared to have limited movement in rallies. "I don't know if it's the courts, or if it's just us or if it's the gripping is different," she said. "Once you slip and once you feel pain, you're obviously more careful. You can't really run the same balls down."

The other withdrawals were Steve Darcis, the conquerer of Rafael Nadal, who cited a shoulder injury, Yaroslava Shvedova, who handed Petra Kvitova, the 2011 champion, a walkover after injuring a hand, Radek Stepanek, who had a thigh complaint, and John Isner, the big American who has now played in the longest match in Wimbledon history and the second-shortest. Isner withdrew 15 minutes into his match against Adrian Mannarino, of France, after injuring a leg while serving.

The Times