A Royal fan for Jamie, way out on Court 14

Jamie Murray was under strict orders for a winning start in the men’s doubles. “Make sure you play well,” was the instruction, and it came by Royal command.

The Duchess of Cambridge was among the Court 14 crowd for Murray and partner Bruno Soares’ match, to the surprise and delight of Andy’s big brother.

Murray, pictured inset, was told by text to expect a special visitor.

"I was kind of wondering who it was and thought it had to be someone pretty big,” he said, following the 6-1, 6-7 (5-7),

6-1 defeat of Nicholas Munroe (US) and Vasek Pospisil (Canada).

“When I got on court I clocked straight away.

“It was great she was able to come out and support us, but Bruno didn’t notice the whole match. He only found out afterwards.”

Murray and Soares romped into an early lead, winning the first five games, and the Scot was literally seeing the world through rose-tinted specs, his protection against the sunshine.

They were slowed down in the second set as both were challenged on serve.

If Soares could have held his at 5-4, that would have been the match, but their opponents found some rhythm to force a tiebreak, which they clinched on their fourth set-point.

Normal service was resumed in the final set as Murray and Soares replicated the scoreline of the first, the clinching point coming from a Murray serve.

While his five Grand Slam mixed doubles titles have come with three different women, it is with Soares that he has had success in the men’s, winning the Australian and US Opens in 2016.

Next up for them will be Andrey Golubev (Kazakhstan) and Robin Hasse (Netherlands).