With Queen Elizabeth II watching from the Royal Box, Britain's Andy Murray beat Jarkko Nieminen in straights sets Thursday on Center Court to reach the third round of Wimbledon. The fourth-seeded Murray beat the Finnish player 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in front of the queen, who visited the All England Club for the first time since 1977. Murray 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 after a visit of about four hours. 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 Center 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. 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. Top-ranked Rafael Nadal rallied to beat Robin Haase of the Netherlands, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 to reach the third round. With the victory Thursday, Nadal improved to 13-3 in five-set matches. He won all 20 points on his serve in the final set. A seething Serena Williams took out her anger at being exiled from the main showcourts by pulverizing hapless Russian Anna Chakvetadze 6-0, 6-1 to reach the third round. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 5-7, 10-8 victory over Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine was one of several French successes that slipped under the radar. Sixth seed Robin Soderling conjured up another rapid-fire rout to book his place in the third round with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Spain's Marcel Granollers.
