Friday, July 3, 2009

Murray fails in mixed semi-finals

Liezel Huber and Jamie Murray
Murray and Huber came up against some in-form opposition

Jamie Murray completed a miserable day for his family by failing to reach the Wimbledon mixed doubles final.

Murray and American Liezel Huber were beaten 6-2 7-5 in the semis on Centre Court by Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

Their defeat followed that of Murray's younger brother Andy in the men's singles semi-finals to Andy Roddick.

In the other mixed semi-final, Leander Paes and Cara Black beat Stephen Huss and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-4 6-4.

Murray, 23, won the 2007 Wimbledon mixed doubles title with Jelena Jankovic but came up short with Huber, who won the 2005 women's doubles with Black.

Veteran doubles specialist Knowles, 37, and Groenefeld, 24, raced through the first set in 31 minutes before the GB-USA pairing found their game in the second.

Murray and South African-born Huber, 32, managed to saved three break points to lead 4-3 against the ninth seeds.

They were broken in their next service game, only to return the favour on the Knowles serve for 5-5.

But another break on Huber's service handed the advantage back to their opponents, and Groenefeld served out to seal victory.

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