LONDON : After meeting Queen Elizabeth on Thursday, Britain`s Andy Murray will be hoping for another majestic performance when he faces Frenchman Gilles Simon in the third round on Saturday.

A barnstorming demolition of Finland`s Jarkko Nieminen has raised expectations among a British crowd eager to crown their first men`s singles champion since 1936.

Simon, 25, has never been past the fourth round at Wimbledon and has been dogged by a knee injury that caused him to miss the entire clay court season.
"He`s a tough player," Murray said after his second round match.

"He was obviously in the top 10 last year. He`s beaten (Roger) Federer a couple of times and had some tough matches with (Novak) Djokovic.

"He was at the top of the game before he got hurt. He`s a very difficult player to play against, very unorthodox. It will be a bit of a tough match if we both play well."

The Queen had left the All England Club by the time Rafael Nadal took to Centre Court on Thursday and scrapped his way to a five-set victory over Dutchman Robin Haase.

The 2008 champion now faces 33 seed Philipp Petzschner on Centre Court on Saturday following Serena Williams`s match against 21-year-old Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.

BDST: 1012 hrs, 26 July 2010
SFM/