London: Revenge will be on the minds of Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray on Friday when they seek to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon and banish memories of defeats by their next opponents.
Top seed Nadal faces Luxembourg's Gilles Muller, the Spaniard's conqueror in the second round at Wimbledon in 2005, while the dangerous Ivan Ljubicic awaits home hope Murray, the Croatian having won their last meeting in Beijing last year.
Since that 2005 defeat world number one Nadal has only lost twice at Wimbledon, to Roger Federer in the final, so although 92nd-ranked Muller is fresh having played just five games in his second-round match before Milos Raonic pulled out injured he will face an almighty task to topple Nadal.
World number four Murray, chasing his first grand slam after three losses in finals, will enjoy a considerable home advantage against veteran Ljubicic on Centre Court.
"It's the only court on earth I haven't played on," said the Croatian world number 33 after setting up the clash.
Elsewhere on Friday, five-times champion Venus Williams takes on Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez on Court One after British teenager Laura Robson meets 2004 winner Maria Sharapova in a second-round match carried over from Thursday.
Big-serving American Andy Roddick opens proceedings on Centre Court against Spanish serve volleyer Feliciano Lopez.
Women's top seed Caroline Wozniacki faces Virginie Razzano of France on Court Two and second seed Vera Zvonareva takes on last year's surprise semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, June 24, 2011, 17:23