Andy Murray
Andy Murray beats Taiwan’s Yen-Hsun Lu in straight sets. [Reuters]

Andy Murray progressed to the third round thanks to a comfortable victory over Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu but it was a string of withdrawals that made the headlines on day three at Wimbledon.

The number two seed was rarely troubled as he secured a 6-3 6-3 7-5 victory in just over two hours and will now face Spaniard Tommy Robredo in the next round.

Lu struggled to make any impact on the Murray serve and was soon in trouble on his own as the British number one grabbed an early break to move 4-2 ahead in the first set.

That was good enough for last year's finalist who went on to seal the first set in just 33 minutes as Lu produced nine unforced errors and found it simply impossible to take the game to a relaxed and confident Murray.

The Brit would then secure another break of serve in the first game of the second set as Lu continued to struggle with his serve. Murray then raced into a 5-3 lead before sealing a second break and claiming the set after another error from the Taiwanese player who dumped a poor volley into the net.

Murray had numerous chances to break the Lu serve in the third and it seemed as though we were heading to a tie-break. However, with the score at 6-5 in Murray's favour he would finally capitalise to claim another comfortable victory.

"I thought I kept my concentration well and did well on my serve. Each game I was putting pressure on his serve but he played ultra-aggressive and it was very tough," Murray told the BBC. "You're trying to get through the matches - you can't guarantee that any match will be easy. You have to do whatever happens to win as quickly as possible.

"It's tough to talk about the conditions. I felt comfortable but neither of us slipped. Sometimes you just get unlucky on grass. They can be slick early in the tournament.

"Tommy Robredo has started playing some good tennis, he's very fit, he serves solid, has a good forehand and he will fight right until the end."

While Murray safely progressed it was a nightmare day for a number of players with a record seven being forced to withdraw from the tournament because of injury.

Rafael Nadal's conqueror Steven Darcis was forced to pull out of his match because of a right shoulder injury, just a short time after American John Isnre retired from his second-round match against Adrian Mannarino of France with a knee injury.

Radek Stepanek, Victoria Azarenka, Marin Cilic and Yaroslava Shvedova would then also be forced to withdraw before the shock news that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had retired in the third set against Ernest Gulbis after moving gingerly for some time.

Tsonga, seeded sixth, had been a potential quarter-final opponent for Murray, and will Nadal already out of the tournament, hopes will be further raised that he can finally win his home Grand Slam.

Elsewhere there were two major shocks as Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki both lost in straight sets. Both players are former world number ones but struggled on the slippery courts of SW19.

Sharapova lost 6-3 6-4 to Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher De Brito while Wozniacki lost 6-2 6-2 to Czech Petra Cetkovska.