Graphic: yesterday at Wimbledon

Graphic: the men's and women's singles draws

Show-off is not a term that could normally be applied to Andy Murray. Although he may be acutely aware that he is maturing into a potential champion with almost every set, he is never extrovert in demonstration of the fact. However, with a phalanx of Olympic champions and British sporting heroes looking on yesterday, the time was right to put on something of a show.

Murray has little to regret over the past 12 months but mention of his brief and unsuccessful Olympic experience in Beijing last August provokes a grimace. It will be three years before he can aspire to gold on Wimbledon’s Centre Court but the British No 1 is very much the man of the moment, and a desire to prove his quality to those who have already experienced such success resulted in a performance of poise, precision and promise.

Three matches into his fourth campaign at the All England Club, things could not be going better for the third seed, who many people believe is destined to become the first British champion since Fred Perry 73 years ago. Champion Rafael Nadal is home in Majorca, resting his aching knees. Juan Martin del Potro, the other leading seed in Murray’s half of the draw, also has a couple of weeks to relax in Argentina. And Murray’s most recent opponent, 30th seed Viktor Troicki, is this morning left to reflect on a pummelling.

As Murray admitted after his third-round win that sets up a meeting with Swiss 19th seed Stanislas Wawrinka tomorrow: “I would give myself an A coming through the first week.” His level of play has improved with each performance, and his 6-2 6-3 6-4 victory in an hour and 36 minutes was another affirmation of the fact that he is one of the most naturally gifted talents with a racket in his hand that this nation has known. The fact that he has worked with such commitment to turn himself into one of the strongest and most resilient of competitors makes performances such as this something to be savoured.

“I have felt more comfortable as the week has gone on,” said the 22-year-old. “I am happy with the first week. All you have to do is win. I don’t mind if I play terrible. Each win is a big win here but I will have to play better if I want to come home with the title.

“I always watch the highlight of the big tournaments,” he added, but “I won’t dwell [on them] too much. I will wait for the next match. I always expect a lot of myself. If I play poorly, of course I will be disappointed. With Rafa [Nadal] not playing, I need to get to the semis to make that a difference but there are many great players left in the draw.”

Troicki had never played on Centre Court before. He is a relative stranger to the big-match environment, and it didn’t take long to understand why. At the French Open four weeks earlier he was emphatically beaten by Del Potro at the same stage, and although his commitment wasn’t in question here, “raw” was probably the kindest way to describe his technique.

The 23 year-old from Belgrade now makes his home in Halle, site of the German grass-court event that set itself up as a rival to the London tournament at Queen’s Club a couple of decades ago. Murray won this year’s Aegon title at Queen’s; Troicki was beaten in the opening round of the Halle.

The difference in class was obvious from the first point. Most of Troicki’s game is based on a heavy serve, summoned out of a muscular but hardly aesthetic action. Standing, at 6ft 4in, an inch taller than Murray, his initial plan was to bludgeon some spirit out of the Scot but that soon proved a futile exercise. Such was the quality of Murray’s game that he failed to make only five returns in the first two sets.

With only three games played, a few raindrops fell. Troicki motioned to umpire Carlos Ramos that perhaps a break might be in order, realising that the locker room would be more convivial than this public examination of his fallibilities. Ramos simply shook his head, information from the London Weather Centre telling him no storm or even shower was imminent. The accurate information paid off for the 15,000 crowd and for Murray.