by Sunday Sun

This time the victim was Serbia's Viktor Troicki, who was out-hit, outsmarted and totally outclassed by Murray in a 6-2 6-3 6-4 third-round demolition which took just one hour and 36 minutes.

It took Murray into the second week of Wimbledon where he will play Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka in the fourth round, and on this form it will take something extraordinary to stop him reaching next Sunday's final.

Troicki, ranked number 31 in the world, never stood a chance.

In his career he has beaten the likes of Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic and David Nalbandian.

But he had never played on Centre Court, and with the odd drop of rain falling and the prospect of the roof being used for the first time the nerves, betrayed him in the sixth game of the first set when he threw in two double faults and a weak forehand into the net to gift Murray the crucial service break.

The British No 1 cashed in on more Troicki errors to break again and take the set.

Troicki had lost both his previous matches against Murray, winning just one game in their most recent encounter.

Murray was obviously reading the unusual Troicki service action and the Scot broke serve for the third consecutive time in the second game of the second set.

The gulf in class between the players was plain to see and with Murray's service purring along it was barely a contest, especially as Murray was returning as efficiently as he was serving.

Murray's superior class was obvious but what makes him so dangerous was summed up on advantage on Troicki's serve in the first game of the third set.

A lob from Troicki sailed over Murray and the point looked won.

For any other player it might have been, but the dogged Scot turned and ran the ball down and possessed the class to throw up such a precise lob of his own that he won the point when his opponent smashed into the net for yet another break of serve.

Talent and industry. It is a winning combination. With the serve broken the end was inevitable and Murray served out to end the demolition.

No wonder the expectation levels are rising by the day.

Murray gave himself an "A" for coming through the first week of Wimbledon but insisted he would still need to improve to lift the title.

"Today was very good, I felt a little bit uncomfortable at the start, it was very different conditions to the other day," said the world No 3. "The clouds came over, it was raining a little bit and quite a lot of wind, but after the first set or so I started to feel more comfortable. I'm very happy with the first week, I got better with every match."

Asked to grade his performances, the 22-year-old Scot added: "All you have to do is win, I don't mind if I play terrible as long as I come through.

"I'll have to give myself an A for coming through the first week, each win is a big one here (but) I'm going to have to play better next week if I want to come home with the title."

Murray is seeded to meet five-time champion Roger Federer in the final following the withdrawal through injury of defending champion Rafael Nadal, but insisted he was not looking too far ahead.

"I expect a lot of myself," he added. "If I play poorly I'll be very disappointed with myself, if I play well I'm going to be happy.

"With Rafa not playing I need to get to the semis for that to make a difference to me and there are still some great players in the draw and I still have some tough matches coming up.

"I know I play (Stanislas) Wawrinka next, my coach always goes and watches the match before me to get tactics right, but I don't know much further than that."

Step on it, doc urged

Radek Stepanek is hoping his doctor will complete an emergency dash from Prague in time to help him recover from a knee injury to play his next match at Wimbledon.

The 30-year-old Czech No 2 sent out an SOS after hurting his knee during yesterday's 7-5 7-5 3-6 4-6 6-4 third-round win over Spaniard David Ferrer.

Stepanek, who recovered from an ankle injury on the eve of Wimbledon, considered retiring before battling on after receiving on-court treatment but admits he could be doubtful for his fourth-round match against Lleyton Hewitt on Monday.

"Hopefully, I'll be all right," he said. "I just called my doctor and if he can show up right away and try to help me get ready for my match, I'll be ready to battle again." Tomas Berdych has also yet to drop a set after ending his hoodoo against Nikolay Davydenko, who had won all eight previous encounters. The leading Czech player was delighted to break his duck with a 6-2 6-3 6-2 victory.

Berdych's reward is a fourth-round meeting with sixth-seeded American Andy Roddick, who gained a 7-6 7-6 4-6 6-3 win over Germany's Jurgen Melzer.

Another German, Tommy Haas, and Igor Andreev of Russia set up a fourth-round duel on Monday.

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