Serena, Murray delight in Wimbledon mixed debut: 'We're here to do well, but have fun'
LONDON, Great Britain - The highly-anticipated mixed doubles team of Serena Williams and Andy Murray finally made its Wimbledon debut on Saturday evening, and all went according to plan.
Williams and Murray defeated Chile's Alexa Guarachi and German Andreas Mies in their first round match on Centre Court, 6-4, 6-1.
The team's much-talked-about debut was delayed by a day, as the first-round match was initially scheduled as "to be arranged" on Friday's schedule, but following Coco Gauff's dramatic Centre Court comeback, was pushed off until Saturday.
With a much more routine Centre Court schedule on Saturday, with all three matches being decided in straight sets, the mixed doubles was flexed into the schedule as a fourth match to close out the evening.
Following the 76-minute victory, Serena said: "I think it was fun. I had fun out there. Some moments I thought were really fun. But we're obviously here to do well, but have fun at the same time."
The decorated duo were a class above their opponents in the match, as they held 17 break points over the course of the encounter and broke serve four times en route to victory.
"I think towards the end of the match, like, when you're kind of in control on the scoreboard, it's easier to sort of relax and enjoy it, whereas the first set, we were obviously taking it seriously to win. We had a bunch of chances, didn't get them, [but] thankfully got the 5-4 game," Murray added.
"For me it was a great experience being back on Centre Court with Serena after the last year or so being tough. It was nice. I enjoyed it."
It was the second match for both Wimbledon champions on Saturday, as Williams opened the No.1 Court schedule with a straight-sets victory over Julia Goerges to reach the round of 16, while Murray was defeated with his partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert by No.6 seeds Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor in four sets in the men's doubles.
"We have a lot we want to get better on as a team. I think we did great for the first day. I think overall we just want to keep it up. I thought we served well," Williams said.
"Those key points, kind of getting in the groove. We both haven't played a tremendous amount. I think we both are kind of really taking this, Okay, this is great for both of us to get those points, those points we really need to convert on."
The pair went 1-for-10 on break point opportunities in the first set, but only lost a combined six points on serve, as they had several opportunities to lengthen their lead after breaking serve in the first game.
Murray assessed: "Maybe we weren't as clinical as maybe we'd like to be. Again, that comes with matches a little bit. Like Serena said, neither of us have played much recently, but that will come."
Ultimately, they needed five set points, as the Chilean and German pairing saved four set points in the ninth game, but proceeded to win the first four games in the second set to ease through to the second round.
"At some point I started feeling a lot of pressure. 'Oh, my God, I have to do well because this match is so hyped that I want to see it.' I didn't even want to be in it, I kind of just wanted to watch it. Maybe I'll try to get a video of it or watch it somewhere," Williams said.
"Overall, I think I was able to handle my nerves pretty good, do better than I thought I was going to do."
