Jamie Murray & Hingis edge Watson & Kontinen to bring Wimbledon to close

 

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By Ros Satar, at Wimbledon

  • Jamie Murray & Martina Hingis def. Heather Watson & Henri Kontinen 6-4 6-4
LONDON, UK – Andy Murray may have opened proceedings, but it was brother Jamie Murray with Martina Hingis who closed the curtains with the Mixed Doubles win.

 

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After what was perhaps a little anti-climactic final, the crowds were happy to see two Brits duelling it out (with their partners, of course) to win the final trophy of the day.

However the fairy-tale run of British No. 2 Heather Watson along with current Doubles World No. 1 Henri Kontinen came to an end. 10 years on from when Jamie Murray won his first Grand Slam Mixed Doubles title with Jelena Jankovic, he returned with Martina Hingis to do it all again.

The doubles experts had been solid the whole way through the tournament but the defending champions had battles in their last two rounds to get to this point.

With some enterprising wag in the crowd not quite knowing who to support, so shouting out a ‘Come On All of You,’ it was at times a bit of a Murrray masterclass, bringing up the first break before Hingis let the side down for Watson and Kontinen to break back straight away.

It was left to Murray the elder to do the business once more at the end of the set to break once more, before Murray served it out. The second set was a lot closer, with Watson & Kontinen bringing up a couple of opportunities to get into the lead, but again the top seeds were the ones to take the advantage, and to make it count.

They had to work for the title – saving three break points as they looked to serve it out, before Murray finished it off on his serve.

Watson said: “I think that I missed a few too many returns today. We had quite a few breakpoint chances. I thought I got better with Jamie’s serve as the match went on. But still the lefty, quite spinny, I found quite tough.

“They’re a really tough team. We knew that going in. I thought Martina served particularly well today. Jamie at the net is very good and very big.”

Of course the last time Murray won the mixed, the journey was more about the flirting between him and Jankovic, but this time things were a lot more business-like!

Hingis said: “It was just like, Hi, Jamie, want to play with me (laughter)? Just got to keep it simple. I think that’s what matters. When you’re on the court, too, we know where we stand, what we do, what we can expect from one another as doubles players.”

Murray said: “It’s just a great opportunity for me to play and to, like, really feel like you could do good things on the court and have a great shot to win.

“I mean, the doubles for me is obviously my biggest goal of the year. It’s going to take something pretty special to kind of maybe potentially take my eye off the ball with it.

“But like I said, it was a great opportunity. I mean, she’s won everything, won so many mixed as well. Like, I knew I could do well with her. For me, it was kind of an easy decision.”

Full round up of British results to follow.