Shock defeat for Andy Roddick

Andy Murray delights his home crowd with an impressive victory over Ljubicic in the third round [GALLO/GETTY]

Three-time Wimbledon runner-up and crowd favourite Andy Roddick was eliminated in straight sets by Feliciano Lopez in the third round of Wimbledon on Friday.

The 44th-ranked Lopez served 28 aces and piled up 57 winners to defeat Roddick 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2), 6-4 on Centre Court, the biggest upset of the men’s tournament so far.

The eighth-seeded Roddick, who lost to Roger Federer in the finals in 2004, 2005 and 2009, served 16 aces but also had six double-faults.

“It’s a great win. It’s probably the best win of my career. But even leading two sets to love, I knew that he would still be a great fighter as he is such a great player,” said Lopez.

“I was a little nervous towards the end as it’s always difficult to close out a match.”

Trick shot Murray truimphs

Home hope Andy Murray battled through to the last 16 at Wimbledon with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 win over Croatian Ivan Ljubicic under the Centre Court roof.

The fourth seed, bidding to become the first British men’s singles champion at Wimbledon for 75 years, looked edgy against former world number three Ljubicic but kept his emotions under control to win the crucial tie-break. 

Murray even used his trademark between-the-legs trick shot late on in the match to the delight of his home crowd. 

Murray next faces in-form Frenchman Richard Gasquet who outclassed Simone Bolelli in one of only six men’s singles matches completed on day five because of more bad weather.

Among the unfinished matches was defending champion Rafael Nadal’s contest on Court 1 against Gilles Muller of Luxembourg. The top-seeded Spaniard was leading 7-6 (6) when the rain came. 

Caroline Wozniacki is poised to take on the Williams sisters for the Wimbledon crown [GALLO/GETTY]

The female world number one Caroline Wozniacki needed just 66 minutes to beat Virginie Razanno 6-1, 6-3 in their second round match.

The 20-year-old Dane has spent barely more than two hours on the court so far and despite being the poster girl of the WTA tour has been all but forgotten in the whirl of publicity surrounding the return of the Williams sisters.

Wozniacki – who played on Court Two – refused to get drawn on whether a top seed should be exiled to the lesser courts.

“It’s up to the tournament to decide where we’re going to play… If Serena can play on Court Two, then I guess I can too.”

Serena’s sister Venus Williams made it through to the fourth round after a convincing 6-0, 6-2 win over Martinez Sanchez. However, second-seeded Vera Zvonareva crashed out against Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova.

The two remaining British women were both knocked out in the second round – Laura Robson succumbed to one of the tournament’s favourites Maria Sharapova and Elena Baltacha to Peng Shuai.