ANDREAS Seppi is nothing if not persistent.
The German-speaking Italian is searching for his first win in seven matches against Andy Murray, his only victory against the Scot arriving on the grass courts of Nottingham back in 2006.
That streak, however, doesn't seem quite so demoralising when you have been able to overturn even longer odds against the greatest player in the history of the sport. The veteran had lost all ten of his previous meetings with Roger Federer before he suddenly turned it on to shock him in four sets at the Australian Open at the start of the year.
Okay, so normal service has subsequently been resumed. The Swiss legend has beaten him twice since that day, the latest coming as recently as the final at the grass court event in Halle, but this 31-year-old from the Tyrolean Alps (93% of the population in his home town of Caldaro speak German, rather than Italian) is a man who is undaunted at the thought of climbing a mountain or two.
He said last night that even ending Murray's attempts to reclaim his Wimbledon title in 2013 on his home turf at Wimbledon wouldn't hold a candle to his feat of knocking out Federer in Melbourne.
"For sure it is going to be a tough match," said Seppi. "He won here a few years ago and he always plays well. In my last matches against him, I've always lost.
"His game is better than mine when he's 100 per cent. That is why he won the last matches. But I have nothing to lose. I am playing well so I will enjoy it. I think maybe beating Roger in Australia is bigger. Because it's Roger. It's a very big jump."
Those meetings and beatings against Murray have only been rendered more demoralising because of the venues where they have been inflicted. Two of the last three have come in Italy. While the Italians ultimately prevailed in their Davis Cup tie against Great Britain in Naples last April, a tough rubber between the pair saw Murray have to deal with both a partisan Italian crowd and a rather ramshackle little clay court which the Scot later described as 'dangerous'. Seppi ultimately went on to get his moment of glory that weekend, recording a straight sets victory over James Ward in the crucial deciding rubber.
"The last match I played against him, on clay, was a good match," said Seppi, who like the man on the other side of the net, is known colloquially as 'Andy'. "I lost in straight sets but I felt I was there."
While the player himself used to revere Yevgeny Kafelnikov and regards clay or hard court as his favoured surface, in truth his is an assured all court game. He is used to reaching these stages of the Grand Slams, having made fourth round at all apart from the US Open.
"It will be different on grass," said Seppi, who was the beneficiary of an injury to his second-round opponent Borna Coric. "He likes this surface more. He has the crowd behind him. He likes to play here, it's his hometown. He has done pretty well in the past here. So it's difficult to beat him.
"But the last matches I have played on big courts, I have always played my best tennis," added the Italian, now World No 27 but previously as high as 18, a man who has racked up the best part of $7m in prize money. "I have played some good tennis in recent weeks on this surface. Of course I am not the favourite, that is clear. But I'm feeling well and hopefully I can put some pressure on him."
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