Federer, Murray, Nadal eye third round

Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal target places in the Wimbledon third round on Thursday following a dramatic third day which had seen record temperatures and the evacuation of Centre Court.

Seven-time champion Federer faces America's world number 36 Sam Querrey who has lost both his previous matches against the second-seeded 17-time Grand Slam title winner, failing to win a set.

The only time Federer has lost before the third round at a Grand Slam in his last 48 major appearances was at 2013 Wimbledon, when he was defeated by Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round.

Murray, the 2013 champion, faces Dutchman Robin Haase first up on Court One.

The British third seed has a 3-1 record over Haase, ranked 78 whose only win against the Scot came in their first meeting in 2008. But the 28-year-old pushed Murray to five sets at the 2011 US Open.

Nadal, the two time winner and seeded 10 this year, takes on German qualifier Dustin Brown.

Brown, the dread-locked world 102 defeated the Spaniard on grass in Halle last year in what was the pair's only previous meeting.

Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych is also in action on Thursday when he faces French wild card Nicolas Mahut defending a 5-0 career lead.

Reigning women's champion Petra Kvitova, the second seed, meets Japan's Kurumi Nara while fifth-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki faces Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic.

Thursday's programme comes after a dramatic Wednesday which saw players and fans swelter in record 35.6 degree heat.

Later in the day, Centre Court was evacuated when a fire broke out in a restaurant inside the 15,000-capacity arena.

Fortunately, the blaze started around an hour after the last match, which featured Serena Williams had finished.
Source: AFP