Boulter and De Minaur cruised to victory in their first match as a mixed doubles team
British number one Katie Boulter and her Australian boyfriend Alex de Minaur teamed up at Wimbledon to win their first match together in the mixed doubles.
The couple beat Australian duo Storm Hunter and John Peers 6-2 6-4.
It was Boulter who had suggested the ‘Boulternaur’ partnership, saying they had “nothing to lose” by teaming up.
Britain’s Joe Salisbury and American partner Rajeev Ram suffered a shock first-round exit in the men’s draw.
The third seeds, who have won three Grand Slam titles together, lost 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 to Dutch pair Bart Stevens and Tallon Griekspoor.
When the draw for the mixed doubles was announced on Wednesday the pairing of Boulter and De Minaur immediately caught the eye, with Boulter saying they would “enjoy and cherish” the occasion.
The couple have attended each other’s singles matches all week, with Boulter set to face defending champion Elena Rybakina on Saturday and De Minaur’s campaign ending on Friday against Italian Matteo Berrettini.
But the Queen’s finalist seemed to have put that behind him as the pair laughed and joked en route to their opening round win, despite Boulter quipping beforehand that it would “test the relationship”.
“It’s something we’ve both wanted to do for quite some time. It’s not often that you get to have that experience together, especially at Wimbledon,” said Boulter.
“It’s a totally different vibe going on court with him. I think we bring the best out of each other, in terms of tennis, on and off the court.”
Meanwhile, Neal Skupski and Wesley Koolhof are into the second round of the men’s doubles at Wimbledon after a win over Aslan Karatsev and Daniel Altmaier.
The top seeds and Queens’ semi-finalists cruised through 6-3 7-5 with Skupski later losing 4-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 in the mixed doubles, where he was the defending champion alongside American partner Desirae Krawczyk.
Skupski has only gone beyond the third round once in men’s doubles at Wimbledon in 2017, but is highly fancied this year with Dutch partner Koolhof.
They will face the winners of Jason Kubler and Rinky Hijikata against Marco Cecchinato and Thiago Monteiro.
British pair Harriet Dart and Heather Watson are also through, beating seventh seeds Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-4 3-6 6-4.
Watson and Dart were made to fight for their win but progress to play Slovakian pair Viktoria Hruncakova and Tereza Mihalikova.
2023-07-07 21:39:14
#Wimbledon #results #Katie #Boulter #Alex #Minaur #win #mixed #doubles #match