Seven-time singles champion Serena Williams of the United States and Andy Murray of Britain won their first round match in mixed double on Saturday, beating Germany’s Andreas Mies and Chile’s Alexa Guarachi 6-4, 6-1.
Williams said after the win that she felt stressed at partnering Murray as she feared that she would disappoint the two-time singles champion.
Should the Williams/Murray pair past No 14 seeds Fabrice Martin of France and Raquel Atawo of the United States, the former singles number ones might face top seeds Bruno Soares of Brazil and Nicole Melichar of the United States in the third round.
In the second round matches, Zhang Shuai of China, who just made a breakthrough in the singles reaching the last 16 at Wimbledon for the first time since 2011, claimed another mixed doubles victory with John Peers of Australia, defeating Heather Watson of Britain and Henri Kontinen of Finland, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Zhang’s compatriot Zheng Saisai and her partner Joran Vliegen of Belgium upset No 2 seed Jean-Julien Rojer and Demi Schuurs of Netherlands, 6-4, 7-5.
Another Chinese player Yang Zhaoxuan also made it into the third round as she and Matwe Middelkoop of Netherlands stunned No. 9 seed Neal Skupski of Britain and Chan Hao-Ching of Chinese Taipei, 7-6, 6-2.
Elsewhere, Evan Hoyt and Eden Silva of Britain shocked No. 16 seed Divij Sharan of India and Duan Yingying of China, 6-3, 6-4. No. 5 seed Wesley Koolhof of Netherlands and Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic beat Philipp Oswald of Austria and Monique Adamczak of Australia 6-1, 6-4.
