Britain’s Neal Skupski and American Desirae Krawczyk retained their mixed doubles title at Wimbledon with a straight sets victory over Australian duo Matthew Ebden and Sam Stosur. Skupski and Krawczyk won a tight opening set before dominating the second to win 6-4 6-3 on Center Court. They are the first pair to defend the title since Czech brother and sister Cyril Suk and Elena Sukova in 1997. They beat Britain’s Harriet Dart and Joe Salisbury in the 2021 final. “It’s unbelievable,” Skupski, 32, said after claiming his second Grand Slam doubles title. “It’s especially nice that my parents are here, they couldn’t come last year. “I got a recent call from Des to play so it’s only team for two weeks but we should go for three next year – if he plays with me.” Earlier, Ebden and Australia’s Max Purcell played out a five-set epic in the men’s doubles semi-finals to beat Britain’s Salisbury and American Rajeev Ram. The mixed doubles final traditionally closed the tournament on Sunday afternoon, but was moved three days ahead for this year’s edition. It’s unlikely the developers thought the change would see a player spend nearly six hours on the field in one day, but that’s how things turned out for Ebden. After playing for four hours and 20 minutes in the men’s doubles semi-final, he was given 90 minutes of rest before taking to Center Court for the mixed final at 19:00 BST. A grueling 17-minute game in the opening set didn’t help Ebden, especially as Skupski and Krawczyk survived two break points and 10 deuces to hold serve. Instead, Ebden and Stosur, the 2011 US Open women’s singles champion, loved three times to go 5-4 down as the second seeds picked the perfect time to strike. Both pairs traded breaks in the second set before an Ebden leg error contributed to a break to love that proved crucial as Skupski and Krawczyk served out the match.

High quality match ends in agonizing defeat for Salisbury & Ram

Joe Salisbury (right) and Rajeev Ram have now lost three Wimbledon semi-finals Salisbury and American Rajeev Ram failed to convert five match points as they lost their first Wimbledon men’s doubles final. The top seeds were dominant until Australians Ebden and Max Purcell staged a battle to win 3-6 6-7 (1-7) 7-6 (11-9) 6-4 6-2. Salisbury and the Ram were chasing a third Grand Slam title together and were dominant on their way to taking the first two sets. After recovering from a third-down breakdown to tie the game at 4-4, they were just two games away from victory. The Briton served eight times in a marathon service game that lasted almost 15 minutes and fended off four break points to hold and edge even closer to victory in a high-quality encounter. But the Aussies forced a tie-break and took an early mini-break before clawing their way back as Salisbury and Ram set up a run of five match points.
Some on a packed court One couldn’t bear to watch as they came and went, with a double fault by Salisbury, a video challenge that showed a shot was out and a lucky rebound off the frame of Purcell’s racket spoiling their chances. Ram saw off a strong Ebden return to send it into a fourth set, where the Aussies built on their momentum and broke in the 10th game to set up a decider. Salisbury and the Rams missed a break early in the fifth and despite having a few comeback opportunities — including one in a thrilling 19-run rally that featured just about every type of hit in the book — they couldn’t find a way back. The Briton went a long way on the Australian’s second match point, unleashing ferocious chest-beating and jumping from the 14th seed, who 90 minutes earlier was on the brink of a straight-sets defeat. For Salisbury and Rahm, it was an agonizing third Wimbledon semi-final loss in five years. “We couldn’t have been closer to being in the final and we both just put it down and couldn’t get over the line,” Salisbury said. “It’s hard. We played some bad points the rest of the match, but obviously we played two bad points at the point of the match. “Obviously there’s pressure, you’re serving to get into the final. There’s extra nerves at the time, but you still have to do better than that.” Wimbledon 2022: Watch Mate Pavić accidentally cut doubles partner Nikola Mektic June. In the other men’s doubles semi-final, defending champions Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic prevailed in a fifth-set tiebreak against Colombian pair Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. Croatian second seeds 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 sixth seeds who will be set up. a final meeting with Ebden and Purcell. Midway through the epic match, Pavic accidentally cut teammate Mektic’s lip with his racket as both players went for a ball during a point in the third set. This led to Mektic taking a selfie with his injury to the crowd’s amusement – with rival Farah even running over to join him and Pavic for a photo in a moment of light relief on Court One.