Murray marches on, Hewitt back to best

By Martyn Herman

LONDON (Reuters) - Andy Murray made light work of a tricky tea-time assignment at Wimbledon Thursday while Lleyton Hewitt, the man who has already lifted the trophy the Scot so cherishes, rolled back the years to cause a big upset.

In front of 15,000 Centre Court fans and thousands watching the match on Henman Hill's giant screen, Murray devoured Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-2 7-5 6-3 to clear another hurdle towards becoming Britain's first men's singles champion in 73 years.

Murray was joined in the third round by dogged Australian Hewitt, the 2002 champion, who produced a vintage display to dispatch fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro in straight sets.

Women's third seed Venus Williams, who along with her sister Serena has collected sackfuls of silverware here, powered past Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko to remain firmly on course for a hat-trick of singles titles.

The American five-time champion, who played with a strapping on her left knee, powered into the third round with a 6-3 6-2 victory and was joined in the last 32 by Russia's world number one Dinara Safina and French Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova.

DAZZLING MAURESMO

On another day of record-breaking crowds mercurial Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, champion here three years ago, also progressed, dazzling the sun-roasted fans on Court Three with a comfortable defeat of Kristina Kucova.

Argentina's Del Potro, occupying the place in the draw vacated by injured champion Rafael Nadal, was given a lesson in grasscourt play by Hewitt who posted a 6-3 7-5 7-5 victory.