The Austrian Alexander Peya has won the mixed title of Wimbledon with his US-American partner Nicole Melichar. The eleventh seeded pairing defeated renowned wildcard holders Jamie Murray/Victoria Azarenka (Great Britain/Belarus) 7:6 (7:1), 6:3 on the world’s most famous Centre Court and completed the surprising triumph.
By Ulrike Weinrich from Wimbledon
After 1:28 hours, Peya/Melichar turned their second match point and fell into each other’s arms after their greatest joint success. The 38-year-old Viennese and the 24-year-old from Florida can look forward to a total prize money of £110,000.
The winners were presented with their trophies in the Royal Box. All good things come in TWO for Peya, who lost the mixed final at Wimbledon with Hungarian Timea Babos in 2015.
This meant that an Austrian was also in a final in London in the third Grand Slam tournament of the year. Oliver Marach and his Croatian partner Mate Pavic landed the double coup at the Australian Open and, like Dominic Thiem, reached the final at the French Open. So it was already the fourth Austria Major Final 2018.
Peya and Melichar proved to be a bit of a party crasher on Sunday evening, since the audience naturally supported the British Jamie Murray and his partner Azarenka. But the two outsiders did not allow a single break chance in the first section and acted highly concentrated, although they could not use three break balls.
At the first set point in the tiebreak, the experienced Jamie Murray, the brother of former world number one Andy Murray, made the first double mistake. The 32-year-old left-hander had already won the mixed trophy in Wimbledon in 2017 with Martina Hingis (Switzerland).
Azarenka, former world number one and two-time major single winner, is also an outstanding player in mixed doubles. The Belarusian won the gold medal in this discipline at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
In the second set, Peya/Melichar set the course with a rapid 3-0 lead. “The mixed is relatively relaxed for both of us. We have good chemistry and are not too dogged,” the Viennese had already said before the match about the secret of the duo’s success.