Jamie Murray came up just short in his bid to win an eighth grand slam title at the Australian Open.
The Scot teamed up with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the mixed doubles, with the pair hoping to win a second straight major title after lifting the trophy at the US Open last September.
They took the opening set against Czech Barbora Krejcikova and Croatia’s Nikola Mektic but the fifth seeds fought back to win 5-7 6-4 10-1 on a deciding tie-break.
??@B_Krejcikova/@NMektic capture a first team Grand Slam title defeating Mattek-Sands/Murray 5-7 6-4 [10-1].
Krejcikova successfully defends her mixed doubles crown while Mektic wins a maiden Slam trophy.#AusOpen | #AO2020 pic.twitter.com/42zPrUfjaY
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 1, 2020
“We were a bit unlucky to lose my serve and then I thought the girl started to play a really good match the last quarter of the match and I thought Nikola played a good match from start to finish.
“The tie-break, we kind of got off to a bad start and it got away from us quick, which was a disappointing way to finish the tournament but it happens sometimes.
Another final coming your way!
Mattek-Sands/Murray take on No. 5 seed Krejcikova/Mektic for the mixed doubles ?#AO2020 | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/0NzJuvGFvc
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 1, 2020
Murray and Mattek-Sands made an inauspicious start, with the Scot dropping his serve in the first game.
It stayed that way until Mektic served for the set at 5-4 and sent down a double fault on the deciding point.
Murray and Mattek-Sands seized their second opportunity with relish, breaking Krejcikova’s serve to take the set as Mattek-Sands threaded a backhand down the line.
The American’s serve was then broken and, although Murray and Mattek-Sands retrieved one of the breaks, Krejcikova and Mektic pushed the match into a deciding tie-break.
That proved to be one-way traffic as the Czech-Croatian duo won the final eight points.
