Former world No 1 Andy Murray’s hopes of emulating Michael Stich in adding a Wimbledon men’s doubles title to his singles crowns ended on Saturday as he and Pierre-Hugues Herbert exited in the second round.
The 32-year-old Scotsman, who landed the Queen’s doubles title a fortnight ago in his first tournament back after “life-changing” hip surgery, and his French partner were beaten by the sixth seeded Croatian duo of Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor who won 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.
Murray’s title hopes are not finished yet as he teams up with seven-time Wimbledon women’s singles champion Serena Williams later on Saturday in the mixed doubles against German Andreas Mies and Chile’s Alexa Guarachi
Stich won the singles title in 1991 and a year later the German added the doubles crown.
For Herbert, it represents a losing gamble as he had angered long-time partner Nicolas Mahut – with whom he won all four Grand Slam titles – in choosing to play with Murray after apparently originally saying he would focus on singles only.
Mahut has made the third round with new partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
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