ALTHOUGH Jamie Murray managed to go one step further than brother Andy, he won't be able to defend his mixed doubles Wimbledon title after last night's 2-6, 7-6 (7/1), 6-4 semi-final loss with partner Liezel Huber against the unseeded pair Bob Bryan and Samantha Stosur.
The result means there will be yet another family affair at a Wimbledon final this weekend – Bryan will face his brother Mike and his partner Katarina Srebotnik tomorrow, with the Williams sisters set to meet in this afternoon's women's singles final
. Venus and Serena are also through to the women's doubles final.
The defeat was hard to take for Murray and Huber after they took the first set in commanding fashion and looked on their way to the final, where Murray would have aimed to emulate last year's victory with then partner Jelena Jankovic. Last night's loss means that Wimbledon is now Murray-less, with Andy having succumbed to Rafael Nadal in the men's singles quarter-final.
Jamie had said his own passage through to the semi-finals of the mixed doubles had raised his brother's spirits on Wednesday but now both will be imagining what might have been this weekend. Jamie Murray double-faulted on his own serve to give Bryan and Stosur a 5-4 lead in the decisive set. Bryan served out to claim victory, and set up a final meeting against his own brother and Srebotonik.
Murray and Huber also held two break points in the eighth game of the third set but failed to convert them They will re-group again at the US Open later this summer. "We won three matches and did well," said Murray. "I felt we were the better team, but we were not able to get through."
Murray turned his attention to the forthcoming Olympics in Beijing, with his and brother Andy's entry to the doubles competition having been confirmed yesterday.
The full article contains 326 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
