Andy Murray will face a significant step up in class when he continues his Wimbledon title defence against Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut on Friday.

The pair will meet in the third match on Centre Court at about 17:00 BST, with a last-16 place up for grabs.
Bautista is the 27th seed and won his first grass-court title in the Netherlands earlier this month. “He’s a very good player. It will be a step up for sure,” Murray said ahead of the third-round contest. “He doesn’t play like a lot of the Spanish guys. He plays very flat. Not much topspin. The grass courts suit his game pretty well. He’s obviously started well here. He’s improving all the time.”

Murray dropped just two games as he beat Blaz Rola in 84 minutes on Wednesday, but Bautista Agut has experience of winning big Grand Slam matches having beaten Juan Martin Del Potro at this year’s Australian Open. “I’m not scared,” said the 26-year-old Spaniard. “I will try to play my game. I am winning a lot of matches. I will try to be aggressive, to play my game.

“I feel good playing from the baseline. I have good returns. I feel well physically. I feel good on the long matches.”
Bautista Agut practised with Murray last year and, as a former junior with Spanish football club Villarreal, had a common interest with the Scot. “We are good friends,” added Bautista Agut, who has risen from 60th to 23rd in the rankings over the past 12 months.

“I had the opportunity to practise with him in Valencia before Madrid because he came earlier to practise on clay.
“We had a few chances to practise together and we talked about football. We just enjoyed the practise.”
Top seed Novak Djokovic will open play on Centre Court at 13:00 BST against France’s Gilles Simon, before former champions Petra Kvitova and Venus Williams meet in the second match.

On Court One, second seed Li Na plays Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Queen’s Club champion Grigor Dimitrov takes on Alexandr Dolgopolov, and sixth seed Tomas Berdych plays Marin Cilic.

Courtesy: BBC TENNIS