Injured Nadal may be forced to pull out of Wimbledon

Andy Murray's chances of progressing to the Wimbledon final - and a probable face-off with Roger Federer - were given a mighty boost yesterday. Not only did the Scot give one of his finest performances on centre court to beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet 7-6, 6-3, 6-2. But the defending champion Rafael Nadal, whom Murray is due to meet in the semi-finals, looks likely to have to pull out of the tournament.

Nadal is having an MRI scan of his left ankle to see if he can go on or not. He injured it during yesterday's grueling victory over Juan Martin del Potro, a match that nearly came to an early conclusion when Nadal thought he had broken a bone.

However, after treatment he was able to fight on, grimacing as he played his shots, to beat del Potro in a four-hour marathon.

"I'm worried for sure," Nadal said afterwards. "I'm going to do the MRI. I am checking with the doctors, with the physios. We are trying to do our best as fast as possible.

"Let's see what's going on and let's see how the MRI looks. And after, let's see if we have the chance to recover for Wednesday. I don't know."

If he can continue, he will face Mardy Fish of the United States on Wednesday while Murray faces Feliciano Lopez of Spain. And if these matches go according to the Wimbledon seeding, he and Murray would be expected to meet in the semi-finals on Friday.

If Nadal pulls out before Wednesday, Fish will get a bye to the semi-finals.

Murray's victory yesterday was watched by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge - the latter is an enthusiastic tennis follower.

As he left the court, Murray bowed to the royal box. "If I'd have known they were coming, I would have shaved," he said afterwards. ·