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Tim Henman: 'Andy Murray can neutralise Ivo Karlovic serve'

Tim Henman backs Andy Murray to cope with Ivo Karlovic's big serve when the two players meet in the fourth round of Wimbledon.

Tim Henman has backed Andy Murray to deal with Ivo Karlovic's serve when the two players meet in the fourth round of Wimbledon on Monday.

The big-hitting Croatian has fired in a tournament-leading 136 aces so far at SW19, as well as winning more points on his first serve than any other player in the opening three rounds.

Murray admitted that it would be "tough" to combat the threat of Karlovic's serve, but Henman believes that the British number one is equipped to cope with the challenge.

"Karlovic is one of the guys who will serve aces on any court with any ball, and especially grass, so that makes him a very dangerous opponent at Wimbledon. Serving well on a grass court is always a tricky combination. Along with John Isner and Kevin Anderson, he's got a great motion, he serves extremely well - and when you're at the top-end of six feet then it certainly helps," Henman told Press Association Sport.

"We saw with how Andy dealt with Kevin Anderson in the final at Queen's that he can cope with big servers who are in form. That's one of Andy's greatest attributes, how well he's able to return serve and get the ball back in play. And against a big server you're not trying to hit return winners, you're trying to get the ball back in play so that you can use your other weapons.

"Once they get into a rally, if Andy neutralises a big serve he's going to win seven-and-a-half out of 10 points. That's where he's very good at it: he will be well aware of what he needs to do to neutralise that kind of weapon. Although it was 6-3 6-4 in the final against Anderson at Queen's, probably 6-2 6-2 would have been a better reflection on how dominant that performance was."

Murray has never lost to Karlovic in their five previous meetings.

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Britain's Andy Murray celebrates beating Italy's Andreas Seppi during their men's singles third round match on day six of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 4, 2015
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