Nadal, Murray Sail Through At Rain-Hit Wimbledon

Rafael Nadal sailed into the Wimbledon last 32 on Wednesday, playing under the Centre Court roof for the first time, while Andy Murray waited for the rain to stop before joining his rival in the third round.

Rafael Nadal sailed into the Wimbledon last 32 on Wednesday, playing under the Centre Court roof for the first time, while Andy Murray waited for the rain to stop before joining his rival in the third round.

Defending champion Nadal eased past Wimbledon debutant Ryan Sweeting of the United States 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

The world number one, bidding for a third Wimbledon title and 11th career Grand Slam crown, goes on to tackle Luxembourg's Gilles Muller, who beat him here in 2005.

Muller made it through when dangerous Canadian 31st seed Milos Raonic retired after just five games of their second round clash when he fell awkwardly and injured his leg.

Nadal said he preferred to play without the �80 million roof covering the action on Centre Court.

"This is the best court in the world. It's a pleasure always to play here. It's a new experience under the roof but I prefer to play with no roof, that's for sure.

"It's very humid and the court is slippery just to the left of the Royal Box."

Murray, seeded fourth and scheduled to meet Nadal in the last four, was equally untroubled, racing to a 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 win over Germany's Tobias Kamke.

The Scotsman, a semi-finalist for the last two years, next takes on Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic for a place in the last 16.

"He serves well. That always makes it difficult. His best results are on grass, which is surprising for someone that serves like him, that makes it tricky," said Murray.

"I served well today, but the rest of my game needs some work," said Murray after his Court One workout.

Three-times runner-up Andy Roddick, the eighth seed, also eased through, defeating Romania's Victor Hanescu 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 and next plays Spain's Feliciano Lopez.

Heavy morning rain meant a three-hour delay to action away from the covered Centre Court with Swiss 14th seed Stanislas Wawrinka and Juan Ignacio Chela, the Argentine 25th seed left wishing the downpours had continued.

Wawrinka went down 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to Italian lucky loser Simone Bolelli, the Italian world 116, while Chela went out 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 to Alex Bogomolov of the United States.

But there were no such problems for Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych, last year's runner-up, who defeated France's Julien Benneteau 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.

Flamboyant French player Gael Monfils, the ninth seed, also made it through with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) win over Slovenia's Grega Zemlja.

American 10th seed Mardy Fish eased past Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-4 while 2007 semi-finalist Richard Gasquet, the French 17th seed, beat Russia's Igor Kunitsyn 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

- By Agence France-Presse

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