Andy Murray must avoid complacency in Wimbledon quest, says Barry Cowan
Friday 3 July 2015 14:15, UK
The real test starts for Andy Murray against Andreas Seppi at Wimbledon on Saturday and he must now avoid any complacency in his game if he is to go on and win the title for a second time, says Barry Cowan.
Murray felt unsatisfied after his battling win over Mikhail Kukushkin but the British No 1 raised his level against Robin Haase, with a more aggressive and dominant display.
Haase has caused Murray problems in the past, in particular during two close defeats at the US Open, but the world No 78 was never allowed to find his rhythm.
Murray can now focus on Seppi, who has never been past the fourth round at the All England Club, and has failed to win a single set in six consecutive defeats to the world No 3.
The Italian has enjoyed an encouraging year, however, after he inflicted a shock defeat on Roger Federer at the Australian Open, before losing to the Swiss in the final at Halle last month.
"He's playing superb," Cowan told Sky Sports. "I'm so impressed with everything that Andy produced on Thursday.
"The real test does start for Andy against Seppi, although I fully expect Andy to win, probably in three, maybe four sets.
"If he is a little bit off colour then Seppi is one of those players that can beat him.
"All the great players won't underestimate Andreas Seppi. We all have off days and sometimes we take players for granted, but they're not machines."
Karlovic or Tsonga
If Murray comes through against Seppi, then he could face a tantalising clash against Ivo Karlovic.
The big-serving Croat battled past Aleksandr Dolgopolov 5-7 6-3 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 13-11 on Thursday to set up a meeting against another huge hitter in Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
"Andy is on a run of 17 Grand Slam quarter-finals in a row. It's quite extraordinary how his level of consistency and with Rafa Nadal losing, his section of the draw has opened up, but a word of caution, Ivo Karlovic served over 40 aces for the second match in a row last night.
"If you're serving that well on a grass-court it's going to be very difficult it's going to be very difficult for anybody to play Ivo.
"By no means is it a foregone conclusion that Andy will be getting through to the semi-finals because he still needs to play great tennis, but I do think that will happen."
