Brief encounter gives Murray time to worry

Despite the world No1's humbling defeat against Rafael Nadal in the French Open on Sunday, Murray said: "I still think he's the best player in the world.

"At the start of the year everyone was saying Federer is going down, he's not playing as well. But he's made the final of the French and the semis of the Australian Open. He's played well in the Masters series on the clay, so I don't think he's losing it that much."

Murray was speaking after his own Wimbledon preparations were interrupted in the Artois Championship here when second-round opponent Sebastien Grosjean quit with a thigh injury after only two games.

The 30-year-old Frenchman, runnerup at Queen's in 2003 and 2004 and a semi-finalist at Wimbledon in the same years, had been expected to provide a tough test for the British No1.

But Grosjean called for the trainer before being broken in the opening game. And he retired at the end of the second, which Murray polished off with two tremendous aces timed respectively at 134mph and 136mph.

Murray's fleeting 14-minute appearance was a disappointment for the Centre Court crowd. But the 21-year-old Scot simply shrugged his shoulders and headed for a work-out in the gym.

If all goes well, he could meet Nadal in Sunday's final and, despite his lasting admiration of Federer, he was glowing in praise of his Spanish rival's performance in Paris.

He said: "I thought it was pretty special, probably the best match we're going to see in a Grand Slam from one player. I didn't think Federer played particularly well but Nadal hit four, maybe five, unforced errors in the first two sets and I guess he maybe hit just a couple in the third set.

"To play a Grand Slam final with so few nerves, and with so much belief that you're going to win the match against someone as good as Federer, just shows how good Nadal is. He's going to be the best clay court player ever."

Wimbledon, however, is played on grass and Murray fancies his chances in SW19. He missed his home Grand Slam last summer with a wrist injury and now he is determined to do better than his best performance in 2006 when he reached the fourth round.

"My goal is to try to win the tournament," he said. "But I guess since I've never made the quarter-finals of a Slam before that would be progress." Earlier, British teenager Dan Evans endured a baptism by fire on his ATP Tour debut. Up against Xavier Malisse, the 27-year-old Belgian who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2002, Evans was crushed 6-1, 6-1 in a match lasting 49 one-sided minutes.

The result came as no surprise, with an 18-year-old world ranked 988 pitched against an opponent whose own relatively lowly ranking of 239 can be traced to a wrist injury that curtailed his tournament appearances to five last season.

But granting Evans the fifth and final wildcard was recognition of his potential - as a junior he was a quarter-finalist at the US and Australian Opens - and to give him precious experience of big-time tennis.

Nadal and Argentine veteran Mariano Hood were due to play Fernando Gonzalez, of Chile, and Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti in a first-round doubles match. The Spaniard takes on Swede Jonas Bjorkman in the singles tomorrow.