FROM the penthouse to the outhouse, it was back down to earth for teen tennis hope Andy Murray.

After his Centre Court debut on Saturday, Murray was in action in the Wimbledon wastelands of Court Three yesterday.

There was standing room only to befit his new status as the latest saviour of British tennis.

But the cheering squad didn't do much good as Murray and Israel's Shahar Peer crashed out in the first round of the mixed doubles - beaten 6-3 6-4 by Lucas Arnold and Emmanuelle Gagliardi. "I was rubbish - she played much better than me," admitted Murray.

"I've never played mixed doubles before and I was scared about hitting it to the girl! "I settled down in the second set but it wasn't a very good performance by me.

"We got great support and it's just unfortunate I didn't play well. I couldn't move when I got off court, there were so many people waiting. I thought people might be interested in someone else!"

Murray will fly out to America on Thursday to take part in the Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, Rhode Island - won last year by Greg Rusedski.

Then he'll move on to the American hard court circuit - with the aim of qualifying for the final Grand Slam of the season, the US Open. But Mark Petchey believes it will be two years before Murray will be able to really compete on the men's ATP Tour.

Petchey, the LTA official tipped to take over as Murray's full-time coach at the end of Wimbledon, believes his charge should be given more time to develop.

Murray, 18, raced into a two set lead against David Nalbandian on Saturday but failed to close out the match as the Argentine's superior fitness began to show.

"Andy is still growing and you have to manage your body differently," said Petchey. "I think it will take another couple of years for him to be fully fit.

"People don't need to panic about him not being physically fit. It's a case of running through some brick walls in the next 12 to 18 months and he'll get there.

"What he achieves is going to depend on what he puts in and from what I've seen he's unbelievably dedicated."

There were no major surprises yesterday as top men's seeds Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt all breezed into the last eight.

Former champion Hewitt advanced in fiery form - picking up an umpire warning in his 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-3 win over Taylor Dent.

He faces Spain's Feliciano Lopez in the quarter-finals, following his surprise straight sets win over Croatia's Mario Antic.

Venus Williams succeeded where sister Serena failed as she brushed aside fellow American Jill Craybas 6-0 6-2. She now faces Mary Pierce.

But top seed Lindsay Davenport underlined why she remains the one to beat with a powerful 6-3 6-7 6-3 victory over former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters.

"I knew I needed to serve well and I was not broken from the first game to when I was serving for the match," said Davenport. "Against a returner like Kim that's all I can ask for."