Murray: ‘Brits should aim higher’

British number one Andy Murray has said that the country should be aiming to get more players through to the quarter-finals of Grand Slams.

Murray, Johanna Konta, Heather Watson and Aljaz Bedene all won on Wednesday to progress to the third round, and Kyle Edmund will join them if he beats 15th seed Gael Monfils on Thursday afternoon.

“It is obviously good to have more players playing in the Slams and winning matches but hopefully we can keep going,” Murray told reporters.

“I wouldn’t say that this is the target – to get five players into the third round. We obviously want to try to do better than that. I don’t know what the level is, but aim as high as you can. Why not try to get five or six players into the quarter-finals of Slams?

“It’s better to set the goal as high as possible and fall a little bit short than go ‘yeah, we’re delighted with five or six players in the second or third round of a Slam. I’d rather set the goal at reaching second weeks and quarter-finals and contending for Slams.”

Murray progressed to the third round in straight sets, beating Germany’s Dustin Brown, whilst Bedene beat Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur. Konta defeated Croatia’s Donna Vekic 7-6 4-6 10-8 after Watson had despatched Latvian 18th seed Anastasija Sevastova 6-0 6-4.

The last time two British women reached round three of Wimbledon was in 1986 when Jo Durie and Anne Hobbs progressed.