Murray-Williams stun 14th seeds to enter third round

Andy Murray and Serena Williams entered the third round of the mixed doubles at Wimbledon, defeating 14th seeds Fabrice Martin and Raquel Atawo 7-5, 6-3 on centre-court, on Tuesday. 

Competing in the mixed doubles at Majors for the first time since 2006 and 2012 respectively, the celebrity pair needed an hour and 37 minutes to make the third round where they will face the top seeds Bruno Soares and Nicole Melichar on Wednesday.

“She (Serena) returned brilliantly, especially at the end of the first set... beginning of the second,” said Murray, at the post-match interview.

“Just clean winning a lot of the time... making my job easy.

“She keeps returning like that, we’ll have a good chance,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Williams powered her way into the women's singles semi-finals, overcoming fellow-American Alison Riske 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in a rip-roaring centre-court contest.

Williams, who is hunting down a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title, will meet unseeded Czech Barbora Strycova, who beat Britain’s Johanna Konta in straight sets.

The two match victories were huge consolation for the American tennis icon who was fined $10,000 (£7,989) by the All England Club earlier in the day for damaging one of Wimbledon’s courts with her racket prior to the start of the tournament.