Andy Murray to spearhead British bid at Wimbledon on Thursday

Andy Murray will lead a four-strong British contingent on the fourth day of Wimbledon when he plays big-serving Ivo Karlovic for a place in round three.

The Scot, second on Centre Court at around 14:30 BST, has won all three of their previous meetings but this is their first encounter on grass.

James Ward faces Mardy Fish second on Court One while Anne Keothavong plays Sara Errani first on Court Two.

Elena Baltacha meets 2011 champion Petra Kvitova third on Court One.

The quartet will aim to join Heather Watson in progressing after she became the first British woman to reach the third round at Wimbledon since 2002.

It was already the best home showing at the All England Club since 2006, when seven players won their opening matches.

"Anytime the Brits do well in Grand Slams it's good for British tennis," said Murray. "It's been a good tournament so far and hopefully it continues."

Karlovic caused one of the biggest upsets seen at Wimbledon when he beat defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in the first round in 2002.

"It's a tough match," Murray told BBC Sport of his meeting with the 6ft 10in Croatian, who is ranked 59th and was a quarter-finalist in 2009. "It's very hard to get into a rhythm against someone like that.

"He's made it very difficult for a lot of players over the last five, six years because he serves so well and makes you feel pretty uncomfortable on the court.

"There are going to be games where you might not even touch the ball when he's serving, so you need to try to stay in the zone and not lose focus on your service games. I'll need to serve well against him."

Murray advanced with a needed five sets to defeat Pablo Andujar.

Ward hit the headlines last year with a run to the Aegon Championships semi-finals and is into round two at SW19 for the first time.

"You can't take anyone lightly," said 10th seed Fish, who missed the French Open after suffering extreme heart palpitations.

"Ward is in the second round for a reason. He had a good year at Queen's last year and he will be tough to beat.

"He's a very good player, he's got a good grass-court game and he's got that sort of confidence about him.

"I have never played a British guy at Wimbledon so in that respect it will be unexpected, but I have played a lot of away matches in the Davis Cup and plenty of times when the crowd is against you."

British number one Keothavong overcame Laura Pous-Tio on Tuesday and she faces world number 10 Errani, with a 1-1 record in previous meetings.

"She's been playing great tennis," said Keothavong of the French Open runner-up. "She's one of the girls that has won the most number of matches this year and made the final in Paris.

"She's going to be a tough opponent and it's a match where I've got to do things better than I did in my first match if I'm going to have a shot."

Baltacha, now the British number three, recovered from losing the first set to overcome Karin Knapp - after which the Scot learned she would be representing Great Britain at the Olympics.

"In a strange way it makes my second-round match against reigning champion Petra Kvitova a little bit easier," Baltacha wrote in her BBC column.

"A lot of the stress of the last few weeks has been lifted and although I know exactly how good Kvitova is and how big an ask it is to beat her on grass, I can just go out there, swing and see what I can do against her."