Venus wins on Centre Court

It wasn’t just playing on Centre Court at Wimbledon that made this such a special day for Michael Venus, it was the manner of the victory.

The Kiwi tennis champ is into the semifinals of the men’s doubles after he and South African Raven Klaasen won a five-set marathon yesterday that lasted four hours 15 minutes, beating Jamie Murray from Britain and Brazil’s Bruno Soares 6-7 7-6 5-7 7-6 6-4.

The roof had to be closed before the final set because of the fading light and the match had a dramatic finish.

Venus and Klaasen had two match points at 5-2 and 15-40, but couldn’t clinch either of them and the set eventually got to 4-5 on Soares’ serve. At that point, Venus and Klaasen raised their levels and broke the Brazilian to love to win the match.

So it was the perfect finish to the perfect day for Venus, a win on the most iconic tennis court in the world. ‘‘I thought it was unbelievable,’’ Venus said of the experience of playing on Centre Court. ‘‘It’s so cool, even walking out through the tunnel to get out there. Then being out there, looking around and taking it all in, it was everything I ever imagined it would be.’’

In the semifinals, Venus and Klaasen will play against Frederik Nielsen from Denmark and Londoner Joe Salisbury.

Meanwhile Artem Sitak’s stay ended losing with his Indian partner Divij Sharant 7-6 7-6 6-7 6-4 to Americans Jack Sock and Mike Bryan in three and a quarter hours..