WIMBLEDON, England (AP)—Briton Andy Murray won his second-round match at Wimbledon and an ovation from the queen.
With Queen Elizabeth II visiting the All England Club for the first time since 1977, Murray defeated Jarkko Nieminen of Finland on Centre Court, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
Murray, seeded fourth, is trying to become the first British player to win Wimbledon since the queen watched Virginia Wade win the women’s final 33 years ago.
The queen took her seat in the front row of the Royal Box shortly before Murray and Nieminen walked onto the court. They turned toward her and simultaneously bowed as the crowd roared.
Murray, the only British player left in singles, might have been a bit nervous at the start. He faced four break points in the opening game but erased them all, then pulled away from there.
The queen joined the applause when Murray closed out the win. Both players again bowed as they left the court, and they then met with the queen on a balcony overlooking the club’s outer courts before she departed.
Over on Court 1, 2004 champion Maria Sharapova advanced to the third round by beating Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-1, 6-4. Seeded 16th, Sharapova won 20 of 23 points at the net.
The queen emerged from a car near the club’s practice courts an hour before the day’s first matches, and walked toward Centre Court along a walkway lined with spectators. When she reached the members’ lawn, she met several players, including Roger Federer, Venus and Serena Williams and Andy Roddick, and former Wimbledon champions Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King.
“She said, Oh, you’ve been coming here a long time,”’ King said. “And I said,Yes, 49 years in a row,’ and she goes, `Oh, that’s wonderful.’ … It was really an honor and a big thrill for me, because it is on my bucket list.”
Serena Williams greeted the queen with the curtsy she had been practicing. Roddick and Federer bowed. Spectators cheered as the queen then walked across a bridge to the clubhouse for lunch.
While she dined, No. 7-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Alberta Brianti 6-2, 6-0. No. 10 Flavia Pennetta swept Monica Niculescu 6-1, 6-1, and No. 14 Victoria Azarenka beat Bojana Jovanovski 6-1, 6-4. No. 23 Zheng Jie lost to Petra Kvitova 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.