Image source, Getty Images
- Author, Adam Chowdhury
- Role, BBC Sport journalist
Britain’s Neal Skupski continued his quest for a fourth Wimbledon title in as many years with two doubles wins on Monday.
His day began with a 7-5 6-3 victory in the third round of the men’s doubles with New Zealand’s Michael Venus, as they beat Americans Christopher Eubanks and Evan King.
Skupski later teamed up with American Desirae Krawczyk in the mixed doubles, renewing the partnership that brought them titles on the south-west London grass in 2021 and 2022.
The former champions needed a match tie-break to beat Brazilians Rafael Matos and Luisa Stefani 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 11-9.
Last year’s Australian Open mixed doubles champions Matos and Stefani could not convert a match point in the match tie-break as sixth seeds Skupski and Krawczyk reached the second round where France’s Fabrice Martin and Spain’s Cristina Bucsa await them.
Martin and Bucsa beat the all-British wildcard team of Lloyd Glasspool and Harriet Dart 6-3 7-6 (7-5) in the first round.
Skupski won the men’s doubles title with Wesley Koolhof last year.
This time around, Skupski and Venus are together as the ninth seeds and will play Constantin Frantzen and Hendrik Jebens in the quarter-finals. The German duo beat Glasspool and Dutchman Jean-Julien Rojer 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) in the third round.
Elsewhere in the men’s doubles, Briton Henry Patten reached his first Grand Slam doubles quarter-final as he joined forces with Finn Harri Heliovaara to beat Matos and Marcelo Melo 7-6 (7-1) 6-2 in the third round.
Wildcard pairing Charles Broom and Arthur Fery went down 6-2 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 to Argentine 11th seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.
Jamie Murray and American Taylor Townsend reached the second round of the mixed doubles with a 6-3 7-6 (7-5) victory over Colombia’s Nicolas Barrientos and Japan’s Miyu Kato.
In an all-British wildcards affair, Patten and Olivia Nicholls beat Julian Cash and Maia Lumsden 7-5 7-6 (7-5) to set up a second-round match against second seeds Michael Venus and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand.
Luke Johnson and Freya Christie, another wildcard team in the mixed, lost 6-4 6-0 in the first round to Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez and Giuliana Olmos.
Two mixed doubles first-round matches involving Britons were suspended as rain fell towards the end of the day, halting all matches on the outside courts.
Joe Salisbury and Heather Watson, who will also team up at the Olympic Games, dropped the first set and were 5-7 5-3 against Belgian Sander Gille and Ukrainian Nadiia Kichenok on court 12.
Broom and Emily Appleton were taking on third seeds Mate Pavic of Croatia and Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine. The home pair also lost the opening set, with the match paused at 4-6 6-5.