Andy Murray rode a wave of British fervour to knock out twice runner-up Andy Roddick 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 and reach the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time.Murray had won the pair’s only previous meeting and once again proved that he was capable of taming Roddick’s thunderbolt serve to the delight of a hollering Centre Court crowd.“Beating a twice Wimbledon finalist on Centre Court is obviously a huge deal for me,” Murray said after recording the greatest win of his career. “I’m pretty excited right now. I wasn’t the favourite going in so I wasn’t expecting to beat him three sets. “I feel bad for him because he’s always a great sport.”The result kept alive Murray’s dreams of becoming the first Briton in 70 years to win the Wimbledon men’s crown, while third seed Roddick’s exit ended a miserable day for the United States on tennis’s most famous stage.With Andre Agassi also bowing out earlier on Saturday, Murray’s victory meant there would be no American man in the fourth round at Wimbledon for only the second time in the Open era.“It was very disappointing,” was Roddick’s succinct verdict. Murray reached the last 16 at a Grand Slam for the first time when Roddick slapped a forehand long on the Scot’s second match point. The world No. 44 will next face Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis.“I played great pretty much the whole match, maybe started a bit nervously,” said Murray. ‘‘I had to hang in because I had a lot of break points on my serve and played well to save them.”
