Andy Murray of Scotland hits a backhand return to Dutchman Robin Haase in their men's singles second-round match at Wimbledon on Thursday. Photo: CFP

Former champion Andy Murray breezed into the Wimbledon third round on Thursday as the women's top 10 lost its fourth seeded player of the week.

Third seed Murray, the 2013 champion, brushed aside Robin Haase, the world No.78 from the Netherlands, 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 in just 87 minutes.

"I started the match off very well. I started quickly and Robin was a little bit slower at the beginning and then he started to come back in it, he played ­better tennis," said Murray after his fourth win in five matches against his fellow 28-year-old.

"That was the sort of match I was ­expecting at the end of the second and the third set where he was making it tough.

"We were playing some longer rallies. He has good variety in his game so there were some fun points."

The women's draw opened up even further when Russian eighth seed Ekaterina Makarova, a quarterfinalist in 2014, went down 6-2, 7-5 to unseeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.

Before 2015, the world No.65 Rybarikova had never won a match at Wimbledon in seven years of trying.

Makarova joined third seed Simona Halep, seventh seed Ana Ivanovic and Carla Suarez Navarro, seeded nine, in failing to get beyond the second round.

Rybarikova goes on to face Belarus qualifier Olga Govortsova who put out French 25th seed Alize Cornet 7-6 (8/6), 2-6, 6-1.

Cornet had knocked Serena Williams out of Wimbledon last year.

Former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki made it through to the third round with a 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) win over Denisa ­Allertova, the world No.83 from the Czech Republic.

The Danish fifth seed took just 23 minutes to secure the first set but the second was a totally different affair as the Czech showed the form that led her to break the top 100 for the first time earlier this year.

Wozniacki next takes on Italian 31st seed Camila Giorgi. Wozniacki has reached the fourth round four times in eight appearances at Wimbledon but has never gone beyond the last 16.

Also going into the third round was German 18th seed Sabine Lisicki, the 2013 runner-up, who fought back to defeat Christina McHale of the United States 2-6, 7-5, 6-1. Lisicki next meets French Open semi-finalist Timea Bacsinszky, the 15th seeded Swiss.

Thursday's action started late due to rain which came as a welcome ­relief to fans and players who had sweltered in record temperatures of over 35 C on Wednesday. Wednesday's high ­temperatures led one ball boy to be taken ill on court, while Australian star ­Bernard Tomic complained of heat-­induced ­dizziness.