There was one brief glimmer of hope for 20-year-old Gulbis, right at the start when Murray somehow contrived to let slip his only two break points of the entire match. Murray, 22, was having a fine time of it, clearly able to read much of Gulbis’s play and out-thinking him. Gulbis seemed thoroughly thrown off balance.
Lleyton Hewitt, moving and roaring as if the last seven years had never happened, scored perhaps his finest win at The Championships since becoming the champion in 2002 as he crushed Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3 7-5 7-5 in two hours 32 minutes .
The 20-year-old Del Potro, seeded fifth which meant he was theoretically lined up for a semi-final spot following Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal, never looked like subduing the Australian attack dog - the only male representative from his country at a tournament once dominated by great players from Down Under.
Andy Roddick has stated his intent at The Championships with a 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win over Igor Kunitsyn to reach the third round.Sure enough, Roddick seemed to be his usual powerful self. The serve was working well as he thumped down 18 aces and 39 unreturnable serves and kept his serving statistics at a healthy 71% accuracy. Kunitsyn was trying his best to compete. He, too, has a vicious serve on him and, for the first few games, was keeping pace on the thunderbolt tally with his opponent.
After the match, Roddick was not concerned about being broken in the third set. "A win is a win. The set I got broken, I had numerous break chances and [he] got the one that [he] had.
Tenth seed Gonzalez has never got beyond the quarter-finals and has struggled on grass throughout his career. He started slowly against Mayer but came back from a set down to beat the Argentine in a match of few service breaks.
Gonzalez was never at his best but took his chances on the important points, winning three out of four break points to claim a solitary break in each set. He eventually triumphed 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, taking the match with a backhand volley.
American qualifier Jesse Levine awaits in the third round. Levine has enjoyed a fine Wimbledon, knocking out Marat Safin in the first round, and he beat Pablo Cuevas 6-2, 6-1, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3 to further enhance his reputation.
Radek Stepanek is no stranger to long matches at Wimbledon and he featured in his sixth five-set match in the space of three years at the All England Club. The No.23 seed came through 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 against Potito Starace.
Juan Carlos Ferrero had a similar afternoon to Gonzalez. He, too, was beaten in the first set, by Fabrice Santoro in a tiebreak. But the 2003 French Open winner’s experience made the difference in the end and he won 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.
There were no such worries for seeds Nikolay Davydenko, Victor Hanescu, Stanislas Wawrinka, David Ferrer and Tomas Berdych who all steamrolled their opponents in straight sets on a day of few upsets.
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