Andy and Jamie Murray beaten in Olympic tennis doubles
Last updated on .From the section Olympics
Andy and Jamie Murray suffered a disappointing first-round exit against Austria's Jurgen Melzer and Alexander Peya in the Olympic doubles event.
The British brothers had their chances after winning the first set and forcing a second set tie-break, but the Austrians prevailed 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 7-5.
Elena Baltacha marked her Olympic debut with a 6-3 6-4 singles win over Agnes Szavay of Hungary at Wimbledon.
But Anne Keothavong lost 4-6 6-3 6-2 to Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.
The Murray brothers had the better of things for much of the two hours and 32 minutes they were on Court Two, twice leading by a break in the final set.
However, elder brother Jamie lost serve twice as they were pegged back, and once again in the 12th game as the Austrians clinched victory.
"It was tough. We played well," said Andy Murray. "We were a break up twice in the third set. We had enough chances to win the match, but each time we got the break we got broken straight back, so it was tough."
Asked about the raucous crowd, he added: "They did a great job. They were really loud from the first point to the last.
"They helped a lot. You don't always get that for doubles matches and it was a really nice atmosphere to play in. I hope they enjoyed the match."
The world number four must now turn his attention to the singles and an opening match against Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka on Centre Court on Sunday.
Britain's other hopes in the men's doubles, Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, were beaten 7-5 6-3 by Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet, while Heather Watson and Laura Robson let an early lead slip as Angelique Kerber and Sabine Lisicki of Germany won 1-6 6-4 6-3.
Baltacha will play doubles with Keothavong on Sunday before her second-round singles match against Ana Ivanovic on Monday.
"It's an amazing opportunity for me," said the Scot. "I have absolutely nothing to lose. She's the one that is meant to be beating me.
"It's a great match to go into because there's no pressure on me. That way you can really relax and really go for it. When Ana is playing at her best, she's a very good player. If she is not playing well, there's a lot of weaknesses.
"One, it depends which Ana turns up. Two, I'm going to be fighting. I'll really swing for it, and see what kind of damage I can cause her."
Baltacha also revealed that she needs surgery on one and maybe both ankles and could quit the sport if the recovery process takes a long time.
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"Not sure on selection rules but didn't we have a wimbledon men's doubles winner available for selection?"
Unfortunately not. The ranking cut off was just after the French Open and Marray's ranking wasn't high enough.
"It was obvious any pairing involving andy would lose"
I'm not so sure about that. He was the best player on court today by a distance.
Well done to Elena Baltacha though, but for me questions need to be asked about the empty seats on the courts, tennis and swimming were embarrasing and questions need to be asked.
All reasoning about why they lost for whatever reason outside of tennis is pure unfounded speculation
Simple really.
Andy, good luck in the singles.
For some reason, peculiarly, we deride Andy Murray at every opportunity yet he's been consistently 4th best tennis player in the world for years, behind 3 players who contest the all-time hall-of-fame.
Are you in the top ten tennis earners of all time? Do you constantly come up against arguably three of the best tennis players to ever grace the sport? perhaps if you turned your attention to spelling you might go somewhere in life.
If you watched any tournaments outside of Wimbledon this season you might see that she has only been at the events in England, she doesn't travel and she has a full time job working with the British female players, she was even watching Keothavong instead of Andy and Jamie today.
Federer has his parents at more games than Murray.
"....For some reason, peculiarly, we deride Andy Murray at every opportunity...."
No we don't........
We applaud his awesome talent which has propelled him to 4th in the World.
It's only the handful of sad anti-Scots that find reasons to snipe at AM's superb tennis skill to make up for their own failure as humans.
Poor poor failures... get over it trolls, as Andy gets richer. Hehehe!!
"Not sure on selection rules but didn't we have a wimbledon men's doubles winner available for selection?
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Yes, his name is Jamie Murray."
Er, no. He won the MIXED doubles with Jelena Jankovic.
"But hey, why let facts get in the way of an idiotic rant eh?"
Hypocrisy abounds. Get your own facts straight before lashing out at others for their mistakes.
The mixed doubles has very little prestige. On the tour the prize money is minuscule hence winning this tittle mean very little as the top players never participate. Federer, nadal dok etc just don't bother. Jamie had an awful last set and the gulf between both bothers was plain for everyone to see. Jamie would struggle in singles against the very best county players.
If there was an Olympic medal for sulking and pouting....