Andy Murray insists there is no chance he will start dreaming of the Wimbledon title despite the remarkable list of big-name casualties in an astonishing first three days at the All England Club.
In the week before the tournament, world number two Murray was bombarded with questions about the draw after Rafael Nadal was controversially seeded fifth and placed in the same half of the draw as the Scot.
That meant Murray seemed likely to have to beat either Nadal or Roger Federer in the last-four if he wanted to emulate his run to the final 12 months ago.
But in the space of just 72 hours the Wimbledon draw, and Murray's path to the final, has taken on a dramatically less demanding look thanks to two of the most stunning results in the event's long and illustrious history.
On Monday, Nadal slumped to a straight sets defeat against unheralded Belgian Steve Darcis, then just hours after Murray completed a business-like 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 second round win over Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun, defending champion Federer crashed out at the hands of Ukrainian journeyman Sergiy Stakhovsky.
To make the day even better for Murray, French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Croatian 10th seed Marin Cilic, both potential quarter-final opponents for the 26-year-old, were forced to withdraw due to injuries.
The highest ranked player left in Murray's half of the draw is 15th seed Nicolas Almagro.
Yet Murray, who faces Spanish 32nd seed Tommy Robredo in the third round, refused to get carried away.
"This is the thing. Everybody was so obsessed with how the draw was before the tournament started. Now everybody wants to change their views on it because a few guys have lost," Murray said.
"Upsets happen every single day. You can't take any matches for granted. People want to do that often and just write people through to finals or semifinals or whatever. But it doesn't work that way. You need to be ready for every match. That's just the way that sport is.
