Venue: All England Club Dates: June 27 to July 10. Coverage: live on BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, connected TVs and mobile app.
Britain’s Neal Skupski and America’s Desirae Krawczyk retained their Wimbledon mixed doubles title with a live seven-set victory over Australian duo Matthew Ebden and Sam Stosur.
Skupski and Krawczyk scored a tight first set before dominating the second to win 6-4 6-3 on the center court.
They are the first couple to defend the title since Czech brother and sister Cyril Suk and Helena Sukova in 1997.
They beat Britain’s Harriet Dart and Joe Salisbury in the 2021 final.
“It’s amazing,” Skupski, 32, said after winning his second Grand Slam title in doubles. “It’s especially nice that my parents are here. They couldn’t come last year.
“I got a late call from Des to play, so she’s only been a team for two weeks, but we’ll have to go three next year, if she plays with me.”
Earlier, Ebden and fellow Australian Max Purcell played a five-set epic in the men’s doubles semifinals to beat Britain’s Salisbury and American Rajeev Ram.
The mixed doubles final has traditionally closed the tournament on a Sunday evening, but is three days ahead of this year’s edition.
It’s unlikely that programmers would think the change would make a player spend nearly six hours on the court in a single day, but that’s how things went for Ebden.
After playing for four hours and 20 minutes in the men’s doubles semifinal, he was granted a 90-minute break before going to the center court for the mixed final at 7pm BST.
A grueling 17-minute match in the first set didn’t help Ebden’s cause, mostly because Skupski and Krawczyk survived two break points and 10 deuces to maintain service.
By contrast, Ebden and Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open women’s singles champion, loved each other three times, but were defeated 5-4 when the second seeded picks chose the perfect time to hit .
Both pairs exchanged breaks in the second set before a foul from Ebden’s foot contributed to a love break that proved crucial when Skupski and Krawczyk served the match.
A high quality match ends in an agonizing defeat for Salisbury & Ram
Joe Salisbury (right) and Rajeev Ram have now lost three Wimbledon semifinals
Salisbury and American Rajeev Ram failed to convert five match points as they missed a first Wimbledon men’s doubles final.
The first seedings had been dominant until Australians Ebden and Max Purcell reacted to the last breath to win 3-6 6-7 (1-7) 7-6 (11-9) 6-4 6-2 .
Salisbury and Ram had been chasing a third Grand Slam title together and were dominant on their way to getting the first two sets.
After recovering from a defeat in the third to tie 4-4, they were just two days away from victory.
The Briton was reduced to eight times in a marathon service game that lasted almost 15 minutes and defended four break points to hold on and get even closer to victory in what was a high quality match.
But the Australians forced a tie-break and got an early mini-break before being hooked when Salisbury and Ram set up a five-point series.
Some of a crowded track couldn’t bear to see how they came and went, with a double Salisbury foul, a video challenge that showed a shot was out and a lucky rebound from the frame of Purcell’s racket erasing the their opportunities.
Ram scored a powerful return from Ebden to send him into a fourth set, where the Australians took advantage of his momentum and broke in the 10th game to establish a decisive one.
Salisbury and Ram lagged a bit behind in the early fifth, and despite having a couple of breaking opportunities, including one in an exciting 19-shot rally that included almost every type of hit in the book, they could not find a way back. .
The Briton stretched to the Australians ’second point of the match, causing wild blows to the chest and jumps from the 14th seed, who 90 minutes earlier had been on the verge of a straight seven-set defeat.
For Salisbury and Ram, it was an agonizing third defeat in the Wimbledon semifinals in five years.
“We couldn’t have been really closer to being in the final and we both broke up and couldn’t cross the line,” Salisbury said.
“It’s tough. We played a few bad points the rest of the game, but obviously we made two on point play.
“Obviously there’s pressure. You’re serving to get into the final. There are extra nerves right now, but you still have to do better.”
In the rest of the men’s doubles semifinals, reigning champions Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic prevailed in a fifth-set tie-break against Colombian pair Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
The second Croatian seeders, Mektic and Pavic, won 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-0) 4-6 6-2 7-6 (10-4) after four hours and 22 minutes against the six sown to configure. a final meeting with Ebden and Purcell.
Halfway through the epic competition, Pavic accidentally cut his teammate Mektic’s lip with his racket while both players were looking for a ball during a third set point.
He took Mektic to take a selfie of his injury for the fun of the crowd, with opponent Farah even running to join him and Pavic to take a photo in a moment of slight relief on the court. 1.