LONDON: Andy Murray survived a trip into Wimbledon’s land of the giant yesterday to reach the third round while Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams gang up on Gilles Simon in the equal prize money sexism storm.

Fourth seed Murray, a semi-finalist for the last three years, cut 2.08 metres Croat Ivo Karlovic down to size as the world number four clinched a 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) victory.

He next plays Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.

Karlovic fired 17 aces to Murray’s 11 and 58 winners to 43. But the Croat was undone by 42 unforced errors compared to the Scot’s meagre eight.

“Winning is all that is important when you play a guy with his style. It’s so challenging to get into a rhythm,” Murray said.

Former champions Sharapova and Williams took drastically different routes into the third round.

Top seed Sharapova, the 2004 champion, had to dig deep to clinch a gritty 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (3-7), 6-0 victory over Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova, a semi-finalist in 2010 and quarter-finalist last year.

Hard work: Maria Sharapova returns a shot to Tsvetana Pironkova during their second round match. Sharapova was made to slog before going through to the third round. — EPA

Sharapova, playing her first tournament since her maiden French Open triumph, had recovered from 5-2 down to take the first set and had just broken to move 3-1 ahead when the tie was suspended due to bad light on Wednesday evening.

On the resumption, Pironkova belied her ranking of 38 to level the tie as the Court One crowd sensed an upset.

It was the first set the 24-year-old had snatched from the Russian in four meetings, but Sharapova took her 2012 three-set record to a perfect nine from nine by racing through the decider.

She will next face Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei as last year’s runner-up tries to reach the Wimbledon final for the third time.

Four-time champion Williams reached the third round with a 6-1, 6-4 demolition of Hungarian qualifier Melinda Czink and next faces Chinese 25th seed Zheng Jie, who she beat in the 2008 semi-finals, for a place in the last 16.

But instead of discussing their tournament prospects, the two All England Club A-listers aimed their fire at French world number 13 Gilles Simon who reignited the equal prize money row by insisting that the men should be paid more because their events were more popular.

“No matter what anyone says, or the criticisms that we get, despite everything else, I’m sure there are a few more people that watch my matches than his, so...,” said Sharapova in an ice-cold put down.

Williams backed up her title rival.

“She’s way hotter than he is, so more people will watch Maria,” said the American.

But Simon, who was knocked out by in straight sets by Xavier Malisse, was unrepentant, claiming that he has the silent support of the locker room.

“The 128 male players here think like me,” he said.

“Maybe they can’t say it; maybe they won’t; maybe they will lose US$2mil on the contracts. In the conversation in the locker room, for sure they agree with me. Trust me.” — AFP

Results

MEN

Second round: Fernando Verdasco (Spa) bt Grega Zemlja (Slo) 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3; Alejandro Falla (Col) bt Nicolas Mahut (Fra) 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 7-5; David Ferrer (Spa) bt Kenny De Schepper (Fra) 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 6-4; Marin Cilic (Cro) bt Lukasz Kubot (Pol) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-1; Lukas Lacko (Svk) bt Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Benoit Paire (Fra) bt Alexander Dolgopolov (Ukr) 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 6-4; Andy Murray (Bri) bt Ivo Karlovic (Cro) 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4); Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) bt Malek Jaziri (Tun) 6-1, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1; Andy Roddick (US) bt Bjoern Phau (Ger) 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3;

Novak Djokovic (Srb) bt Ryan Harrison (US) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Viktor Troicki (Srb) bt Martin Klizan (Svk) 6-4, 4-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; Nicolas Almagro (Spa) bt Guillaume Rufin (Fra) 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4; Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt Ruben Bemelmans (Bel) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; Jerzy Janowicz (Pol) bt Ernests Gulbis (Lat) 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 9-7; Julien Benneteau (Fra) bt Michael Russell (US) 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-4, 7-5; Denis Istomin (Uzb) bt Igor Andreev (Rus) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-2; Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Inigo Cervantes-Huegun (Spa) 6-1, 6-3, 6-4; Janko Tipsarevic (Srb) bt Ryan Sweeting (US) 5-7, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2; Radek Stepanek (Cze) bt Benjamin Becker (Ger) 6-2, 7-6(7-4), 6-3; Xavier Malisse (Bel) bt Gilles Simon (Fra) 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); Kei Nishikori (Jpn) bt Florent Serra (Fra) 6-3, 7-5, 6-2; David Goffin (Bel) bt Jesse Levine (US) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3; Brian Baker (US) bt Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) 6-0, 6-2, 6-4.

WOMEN

Second round: Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul) 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (3-7), 6-0; Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt Tmea Babos (Hun) 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 9-7 (7-0); Serena Williams (US) bt Melinda Czink (Hun) 6-1, 6-4; Yaroslava Shvedova (Kaz) bt Kiki Bertens (Hol) 6-4, 6-4; Klara Zakopalova (Cze) bt Olga Govortsova (Blr) 2-6, 6-1, 6-2; Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt Kristyna Plskov (Cze) 6-4, 6-4; Tamira Paszek (Aut) bt Alize Cornet (Fra) 6-2, 6-1; Yanina Wickmayer (Bel) bt Galina Voskoboeva (Kaz) 4-6, 6-3, 8-6; Mirjana Lucic (Cro) bt Marion Bartoli (Fra) 6-4, 6-3; Ana Ivanovic (Srb) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); Julia Goerges (Ger) bt Anastasiya Yakimova (Blr) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2;

Hsieh Su-Wei (Tpe) bt Stphanie Foretz (Fra) 6-4, 6-1; Vera Zvonareva (Rus) bt Silvia Soler (Spa) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1; Kim Clijsters (Bel) bt Andrea Hlavckov (Cze) 6-3, 6-3; Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) bt Elena Vesnina (Rus) 6-2, 6-1; Camila Giorgi (Ita) bt Anna Tatishvili (Geo) 6-3, 6-1; Sorana Cirstea (Rom) bt Li Na (Chn) 6-3, 6-4; Maria Kirilenko (Rus) bt Lourdes Domnguez (Spa) 6-1, 6-2; Peng Shuai (Chn) bt Ayumi MorIta (Jpn) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; Christina McHale (US) bt Mathilde Johansson (Fra) 7-5, 7-5; Angelique Kerber (Ger) bt Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) 7-5, 6-3; Zheng Jie (Chn) bt Aleksandra Wozniak (Can) 6-4, 6-2; Roberta Vinci (Ita) bt Marina Erakovic (Nzl) 6-4, 6-3; Sara Errani (Ita) bt Anne Keothavong (Bri) 6-1, 6-1.

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