Jamie Murray and Jelena Jankovic defeated third seeds Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Zi Yan of China in a thrilling mixed doubles encounter that provided great entertainment for the watching fans. The pair won 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 6-3.
Returning to Court 3 for a second consecutive day after their opening round win on Wednesday against the British pairing of Richard Bloomfield and Sarah Borwell, Murray and Jankovic looked relaxed and the smiles continued.
Jankovic is now fully aware of the British support behind the older brother of Andy Murray as every seat was occupied.
The partnership certainly looks like it is blossoming, with the energetic Murray, who has never played mixed doubles before, clearly relishing playing with the third best ladies’ singles player in the world. The pair complemented each other, with the Scotsman’s doubles experience combining with the Serbian’s powerful ground strokes and winning mentality.
The pair began well, with Murray holding the opening service game to love. In the fourth game, a well-taken passing shot down the line by Jankovic set up the first break point of the match on the Yan serve. Despite some brave defensive shots by Knowles and Yan, they were unable to hold, with Murray smashing a winner down the middle to lead 3-1.
Knowles and Yan managed to break back on the Jankovic serve, only for Yan to get broken immediately in the next game and hand Murray the opportunity to serve out at 5-3. Knowles, however, is a seasoned doubles player, having been world number one in 2002 and a winner of the men’s doubles at last month’s French Open. He took control to break back.
The set then headed into a tiebreak, Jankovic hitting a superb winning return on the Knowles serve. Both ladies held their service points, and with Murray hitting an unreturnable overhead winner, it was Knowles who was under pressure, serving at 4-5. He was unable to hold either serve, with Jankovic again stepping up to execute a perfect lob and clinch the first set tiebreak 7-4 with 47 minutes played.
The usually reliable Knowles was immediately broken in the opening game of the second set. It then continued to follow serve until the 10th game where Murray was serving for the match at 5-4. However, a couple of double faults handed the incentive back to the opposition who broke back and a tiebreak soon followed.
Trailing 6-2, Murray and Jankovic held off three set points but were unable to save the fourth, losing the tiebreak 7-5, and the match was all-square after one hour and 37 minutes.
The third set was going with serve until the sixth game when Knowles was broken, handing the momentum to the Scotsman and the Serb. Murray once again was given the chance to serve out for the match, which he did so on the fourth match point in two hours and four minutes just as the rain began to fall.
The pair will be looking to advance into the last eight but first need to overcome the 14th seeds Julian Knowle of Austria and Tiantian Sun of China.
Match Statistics
Subscription Video (Live)
Free Video