Andy Murray admits he faces a testing prospect against the big-serving Ivo Karlovic in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
The British number one battled past Andreas Seppi 6-2 6-2 1-6 6-1 on Saturday to book his place in the second week at SW19, although it wasn’t a match without its worries as Murray had to contend with a shoulder problem.
Murray required treatment on his shoulder after failing to win six games in a row, but he then won every game from that point to wrap up the match.
The Scot, seeded third at Wimbledon, admitted the shoulder had been an issue for a couple of days but claimed it was “not something that’s of major concern to me”.
He now faces Karlovic in the fourth round and he poses a tricky challenge for Murray, despite the fact he has yet to beat him in five attempts. Murray reckons the match could be determined by the success of his returns on the big-hitting Croatian’s serves.
Murray said: “I’ll need to be very sharp on my returns and try to find a way to get as many of his serves back in play as possible.
“Clearly he can hit angles on the court that I’m unable to hit obviously on the serve because he’s probably got an extra foot, foot and a half, of height there with the length of his arm and the racket.
“So that makes it difficult to return.”
Murray is priced at 3.25 to win Wimbledon outright, with defending champion Novak Djokovic the 2.15 favourite and Roger Federer available at 6.50.
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