Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis added the US Open mixed doubles title to their Wimbledon crown with victory over Chan Hao-ching and Michael Venus.
After a faultless first set, Murray and Hingis found themselves in a real battle but prevailed in the match tie-break to win 6-1, 4-6, 10-8. The victory takes Murray’s tally of Grand Slam titles to five, three in mixed doubles and two in men’s doubles.
He and Hingis remain unbeaten having teamed up for the first time at Wimbledon while the Swiss also has the chance to add the women’s title with partner Chan Yung-jan, the older sister of her opponent yesterday.
Murray paid tribute to Hingis, who won the singles title in New York 20 years ago, saying: “I tried to find the best partner. She’s an amazing player, she’s had such a great career. It’s been a lot of fun, we’ve won a lot of close tennis. It just shows how fine the margins are. Hopefully we play more.”
Murray and Hingis romped through the draw at Wimbledon but things have been tougher at Flushing Meadows. They had to save a match point in their second-round win over Kveta Peschke and Marcelo Demoliner and were also taken to a deciding tie-break in the quarter-finals.
They could not have made a better start in the final, breaking the Venus serve in the opening game and then again the second time the New Zealander stepped up.
Hingis has now won nine Grand Slam titles since beginning her latest comeback in 2013 and, 21 years after she first won the Wimbledon women’s doubles title aged 15, she has lost none of her sublime hand skills.
It took just 22 minutes for Murray and Hingis to win the first set but Venus picked up his form in the second while the top seeds went off the boil.
Murray in particular began to struggle and it was his serve that was broken twice as Venus and Chan levelled the match.
The match tie-break was nip and tuck throughout, with never more than a point between the teams, but it was Murray and Hingis who brought up the first championship point. They combined brilliantly to take it, Hingis placing a backhand into the corner before Murray clinched it with a leaping volley.
One very interested spectator back home was Murray’s younger brother.Andy posted a picture on Instagram showing Murray and Hingis lifting the trophy on TV, accompanied by the message: “Proud little brother.”
It was not such a good afternoon for Gordon Reid as he lost out to his doubles partner Alfie Hewett in a dramatic battle to reach the men’s wheelchair final.
This was the first time Britain’s two leading wheelchair players had met at a Grand Slam and it went down to the wire. Hewett looked set for victory at a set and 5-3 but Reid hit back and led 5-3 in the deciding set only for Hewett to force a deciding tie-break. That featured match points for both men but it was 19-year-old Hewett who hit the winning lob to claim a 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (10/8), victory after three hours and two minutes.
Hewett said: “I’m a bit speechless right now. It was an amazing match, he’s a great sport and a great athlete. It was absolutely exhausting. I’m glad it was me.”
The teenager takes on France’s Stephane Houdet in the final today, but before that Hewett and Reid were teaming up to take on Houdet and Nicolas Peifer in the doubles final.
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