Murray and Azarenka face Britons in semi-final
At least one Briton is guaranteed a spot in a Wimbledon final this year after reigning mixed doubles champion Jamie Murray and his new partner, Victoria Azarenka, set up a semi-final date with the wildcard British duo of Harriet Dart and Jay Clarke this afternoon.
Despite their pedigrees Murray and Azarenka have forged something of a reputation as the comeback kings of the mixed doubles competition, this being their third successive match in which they have gone from a set down to win.
With his mother Judy watching from the players’ box as the final game went on for almost 15 minutes, Murray and Azarenka, who have been dubbed “Muzzarenka” on social media, beat the Dutch pairing of Jean-julien Rojer and Demi Schuurs 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.
A relieved Murray said: “We did pretty well to come back. There were a lot of great rallies, they played a lot of great shots. At the right times, we started to put the girl under pressure on her serve… I think that was the difference in the end. Ultimately, we were able to get through it but it was epic. The last game was 25 deuces or something.”
It was slightly less nerve-racking for Dart and Clarke, who had never played together before the Championships as they beat the 10th seeds, the Colombian Juan Sebastian Cabal and the American Abigail Spears, in straight sets, 7-6, 7-5, but had to come through a mammoth 12-10 tie-break in the first set.
The youthful pairing of Dart and Clarke painted themselves as the underdogs for their meeting with Murray and Azarenka. Clarke said: “We expected to win it because we’re the wild cards. Brits like the underdog, and there are two us, but Jamie has the bigger following.”
The British have been creating a reputation in the doubles, but men’s semi-finalists Dominic Inglot, with Croatian Franko Skugor, and wild card Joe Sailsbury, with Dane Frederick Nielsen, missed out on the men’s final.