Murray expects Wimbledon test from Ljubicic

The fourth seed’s aim for his first two matches against Daniel Gimeno-Traver and Tobias Kamke was to get through as comfortably as possible, and he managed that reasonably well, dropping only one set.

Ljubicic is likely to pose a significantly greater threat, however.

The 32-year-old looked to be on a downward spiral when he dropped out of the top 70 two years ago, but instead he found some of the best form of his career.

At the Indian Wells Masters in the spring of 2010, the former world No 3 won the biggest title of his career and a first-round win over Marin Cilic here served notice of the threat he could pose to Murray.

The British No 1 said: “The pressure is nicer in some ways once you manage to get through a round or two.

“Now you’re not necessarily expected to win the matches easily. The matches are going to get very tough.

“I play Ljubicic now. I’ve lost to him a few times, he’s a tough player. I expect it to be a difficult match. Hopefully I can raise my game for that one.”

The pair have met six times and are currently tied at 3-3, with Ljubicic having won their most recent match in Beijing last year for the loss of only five games.

The Croatian has never made the fourth round at Wimbledon, but Murray sees no reason why he cannot prosper on the grass.

The 24-year-old said: “He serves well. That always makes it difficult. His best results haven’t been on grass, which is surprising for someone that serves like him.

“When you play against someone like (Andy) Roddick, sometimes you feel once you get into rallies you know you can control him and dictate.

“But they can take some chances on your serve if they’re holding comfortably. That can put a bit of pressure on you. So I have to make sure I return well, which I did very well at Queen’s.”

Ljubicic does not feel his previous successes against Murray will have any bearing on the result today, but his victory in Beijing remains a special memory. He said: “If you have a terrible record then it really shows that you are having serious problems with somebody, but in this case it doesn’t make much difference.

“We both know that it’s going to be a totally different match. He’s going to feel more comfortable here than in Beijing. This is a surface he likes much more than me.

“In Beijing the conditions suited my game perfectly and everything went my way, I played one of my best matches definitely last year and maybe in my career. I need to do exactly that to beat Andy.”

After seeing off Cilic in a rain-affected match, Ljubicic raced through his second-round clash with Sergiy Stakhovsky in less than two hours, and the prize is something he is relishing.

He added: “Finally I will have a day off after playing three days in a row and I will try to enjoy the fact I reached the third round for the third time and I’m really excited about the possibility to go on Centre Court for the first time in my life.”

Ljubicic has also finally started to get to grips with grass after winning only six matches in 11 previous appearances at the All England Club.

“I’ve never felt comfortable on it,” he said. “In 1996 I played the junior final here and I thought, ‘This is going to be my best surface.’ But since I started coming here as a pro I struggled from day one.

“But this year from first practice I’ve felt a little more comfortable. I’ve had two really good wins against players who like playing on this surface so it’s definitely going to be nothing to lose for me and a lot to win for him.”

Also playing today will be British duo Laura Robson and Elena Baltacha after their second-round matches were postponed from yesterday after wet weather curtailed play at Wimbledon.

Robson was due to meet Maria Sharapova on Court One after the match between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Grigor Dimitrov.

But with that clash still in progress when rain started falling just after 7.20pm, tournament officials called Robson’s game off.

Baltacha was also left kicking her heels in the locker room, with her Court 17 clash against Shuai Peng – originally scheduled for Court Two until the games started backing up – also put back to today.

Others to be left without any play yesterday were women’s No 1 Caroline Wozniacki and the No 9 seed Marion Bartoli, who were due to meet Virginie Razzano and Lourdes Dominguez Lino respectively.

There was no court change for Robson when the order of play for today was announced, though, with the 17-year-old penned in to open play at 1pm. Murray, who beat Tobias Kamke on Court One, was switched back to Centre where he is due to be last on against Ljubicic.