At the start of the week, Great Britain had 10 representatives in the men's and women's singles draws at Wimbledon, but over the course of the past four days, that has been whittled down to three.

With the third round at SW19 taking place over Friday and Saturday, Andy Murray, Heather Watson and James Ward will carry the hopes of a nation as they look to earn their place in the second week of the tournament.

Below, Sports Mole takes a look at how each of the trio have performed in their opening two matches, as well as attempting to predict how they will match up against their next opponents.

1. Andy Murray

Since establishing himself as one of the top four players in the world, Murray has carried more expectation than hope heading into his home tournament but so far, the British number one has shown that he is capable of handling the pressure that comes with being the nation's best tennis player in a generation.

Many dismissed the challenge of Mikhail Kukushkin when the draw was made, but it quickly became evident that Murray would have to remain focused to overcome the world number 58, who had taken a set off Rafael Nadal in 2014. The opening set was comfortable enough, but the second provided all sorts of problems for the 2013 champion, who, at times, found himself being overpowered by the Kazakh who wasn't showing any nerves on Centre Court.

Kukushkin was two points away from levelling the match at 1-1 before Murray eventually came through in a tie-break. He would secure his passage into the next round in straight sets but the British number one acknowledged that he had plenty of work to do if he was going to progress into the latter stages of the tournament. Robin Haase, a player who had posed Murray all sorts of problems in the past, was his next opponent, but the potential threat of the Dutchman resulted in the world number three producing some of his best tennis.

After Haase held serve at the start of the match, Murray won 12 of the next 13 games to take complete control of the contest and although Haase improved in the third, he was never going to stop Murray in his tracks. The win for Murray has taken him through to a third-round encounter with Andreas Seppi, someone whom he has defeated in their last six meetings.

However, Seppi does hold a win over Murray on grass, albeit in 2006, and the Italian is arguably playing the best tennis of his career. He had to dig deep to see off star of the future Borna Coric on Thursday, while he will also take confidence from reaching the final in Halle prior to Wimbledon. Murray will be expected to win, and win emphatically, but his 31-year-old opponent has the ability to make life tough for the Brit and it wouldn't come as a huge surprise if he were to take a set off the four-time Queen's champion.

2. Heather Watson

Despite her triumph in Hobart and reaching the last 16 in Indian Wells, it has been a relatively disappointing 2015 for Heather Watson with her world ranking position dropping to as low as 64, but the Guernsey hitter will be hoping that her performances in her first two matches at Wimbledon can act as a catalyst for the rest of the year.

First-round opponent Caroline Garcia is tipped to be a future top-10 player but her form heading into the tournament hadn't been great and Watson would have been aware that she was playing her at a good time. The Frenchwoman dominated the opening set, though, and it appeared as though Watson would be departing Wimbledon at the earliest opportunity for the fourth time in her career.

However, the manner of that setback has triggered something in the 23-year-old, and since that moment, she has produced four of her best sets of the year. She displayed a few nerves when serving out the match against Garcia, but her performance against Daniela Hantuchova on Court One in the last 64 proved that she has the ability to break into the world's top 32 and remain there for a considerable amount of time.

Some may rue the fact that Watson must now play Serena Williams, but this is the type of contest that Watson requires at this stage of her career. Their clash on Centre Court will be the first time that they have played each other, and while it would be a monumental shock should Williams lose, Watson can head into the match with the freedom to express herself on the biggest stage of all, backed by supporters at SW19 and at home.

3. James Ward

After he was drawn to play seventh seed David Ferrer in the first round, James Ward would have been aware that he faced an uphill task to progress, but the Spaniard's withdrawal opened up the draw for the British number four who, by all accounts, has endured a disappointing year and has had to contend with niggling injuries that have halted his progress into the world's top 100.

Ward was favourite to overcome lucky loser Luca Vanni but he also carried the added pressure of knowing that he simply couldn't waste the opportunity handed to him. Despite dropping the opening set to the Italian, it was perhaps more impressive how Ward maintained his composure throughout the four-set win to earn what were invaluable ranking points in his quest to break into double figures.

He would have his work cut out against talented left-hander Jiri Vesely but Ward was quietly fancied to have the game to beat the Czech. It quickly became apparent that was the case as he raced into a sizeable advantage, and although Vesely rallied in the third, Ward relied on his experiences from Davis Cup action to rise to the occasion and record another memorable victory on home soil.

Ward now plays big-serving Canadian Vasek Pospisil in a clash that will inevitably be regarded as a 50-50 match. Both men go into the contest with the opportunity to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time, knowing that they would face a winnable tie with either Viktor Troicki or Dustin Brown in the fourth round. This has the potential to be a career-changing match for both men, and the victor will be the man who handles the pressure better.