‘Murena’ double act proves to be winning formula at Wimbledon

‘Murena’ – the nickname chosen by Williams – dominated Fabrice Martin and Raquel Atawo to win 7-5 6-3 in front of a thrilled Centre Court crowd.

They have proved that their super coupling is much more than just a gimmick and are firm contenders for the title, even if they do play top seeds Bruno Soares and Nicole Melichar in the next round.

“It’s great for me just now, all matches are good,” said Murray. “Doubles especially is good for reactions and reflexes, which is something that’s helped the last four or five weeks for me. Hopefully once we’re finished I’ll get back and start practising some more singles.”

But Murray will not be playing singles at next month’s US Open.

“I think it’s pretty unlikely just in terms of timing,” he said. “I spoke to my team a bit about that on Monday. There’s just a lot of stuff I need to get done physically, get myself stronger.”

Henri Kontinen and John Peers earned a slice of history in the men’s doubles as they won the first ever final-set tie-breaker.

The new rule was brought in this year to avoid deciding set marathons at the All England Club, prompted by the 2018 men’s semi-final which Kevin Anderson won 26-24 against John Isner.

It has taken until the eighth day for a match to go to 12-12 in the final set, but finally the wait ended in the men’s doubles second round.

Kontinen and Peers were the victors and wrote their names into the history books, as deadlocked at 12-12, they produced a fine tie-break performance to get the better of British hope Joe Salisbury and his partner Rajeev Ram, winning 7-6 (6-2) 6-4 3-6 4-6 13-12 (6-2).

Jamie Murray and his American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands were looking to reach the third round of the mixed doubles but were knocked out by third seeds Mate Pavic and Gabriela Dabrowski 6-4 3-6 6-3 victory. Murray won the mixed-doubles title in 2017 with Martina Hingis.

British wild cards Evan Hoyt and Eden Silva continued their fine run in the mixed by reaching the quarter-finals.

The lowly-ranked duo have made impressive progress through the draw and they defeated Belgian Joran Vliegen and Zheng Saisai of China 5-7 7-6 (5) 6-4.