ANDY Murray confirmed his status as the new favourite for the men's singles at this year's Wimbledon by cruising into the second week against John Millman of Australia. The Scot was leading 6-3, 5-4 against the World No 67 from Brisbane, Australia, when news filtered through that Novak Djokovic's stranglehold over the Grand Slams had come to an end, sparking loud celebrations from the crowd. While it appeared to unsettle him a little at first - the Scot was unable to serve out for the second set - he recovered his poise admirably soon enough. The 29-year-old capitalised on a fifth break point for a 6-5 lead to take that set 7-5, then reeled off two more service breaks as he took the third by a 6-2 scoreline, finishing matters off with an ace. He still hasn't dropped a set and will face either Nick Kyrgios or Feliciano Lopez in the next round.

The Scot also had the distraction of numerous rain delays to deal with, the match starting under clear London skies, but twice being interrupted by showers, before the All England Club finally took the decision to complete it under the roof. Played on Sportsman's Saturday at Wimbledon, the Royal Box for the day included his mum Judy, Sir Chris Hoy, boxer Carl Froch and members of England's 1966 World Cup winning team. Davis Cup captain Leon Smith and all the other members of Britain's successful team from their 2015 run paraded the trophy around Centre Court beforehand.

"I need to reach the final for that result to have any bearing whatsoever on my performance. Novak's run has been amazing and he almost found a way to get back into that one. It is unfortunate obviously for him but it is an amazing run that he has been on. Right now, everyone expects Novak to win every game he plays. But it is impossible for him to win every single match in every single tournament he plays.

"I thought it was a good match," he said. "It had a lot of long rallies. John moves well and doesn't make too many unforced errors. When it went indoors, it slows the condition a bit so you have to be a bit more patient, I couldn't hit as many winners."