Andy Murray plays down mind games talk after beating Andreas Seppi

IANS
Andy Murray Andreas Seppi
Andy Murray in action against Andreas Seppi

Wimbledon, July 5 (IANS)

Two-time Slam winner Andy Murray played down any talk of gamesmanship after he overcame a third-set slip-up to defeat Andreas Seppi in the third round at Wimbledon.

The Scot is the last British player standing in the singles following a 6-2, 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 win over the Italian on Saturday, which set up a last-16 clash with Ivo Karlovic.

The 2013 Wimbledon champion appeared to lose his focus after Seppi took a medical timeout, dropping six games in a row to hand the Italian fresh hope of a fightback, reports skysports.com.

The British No. 1 returned the favour in the fourth set, calling for attention to his shoulder, and would take the next six games in a row to secure his progress.

“That's the first one I had this year, I've played 50 matches or something. Andreas isn't like that. I've never ever seen any issues like that on the tour. It's just one of those things,” Murray said.

“I don't even know what was wrong. It seemed like it was his leg. If someone has treatment for their leg, you expect it's going to hamper their movement.

“But the next game when you get broken, you're like, He should be hurt right now and I don't feel like I should be getting broken immediately after he's seen the trainer,” he said.

The World No. 3 has a dominant record against Karlovic, winning all five of their previous encounters, including a second-round meeting at Wimbledon three years ago.

“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,” he said.

“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,” Murray said.