New Zealand's Michael Venus and Brit, Neal Skupski have had to come from a match point down to score a first round victory at Wimbledon.
The ninth seeds defeated the Austrian pair of Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 6-7(5) 6-3 7-5(5) in two hours, 20 minutes to move into the second round.
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It was a typical men's doubles match with early breaks and small margins throughout the contest and similar to Wimbledon 2023 where Venus and Jamie Murray beat the Austrians in three sets in the second round.
In the tiebreaker Venus double-faulted at 0-1 and the Austrians were able to keep hold of that lead to take the opening set.
The New Zealand and British combination managed to break Miedler’s serve in the second set, which was key as they held for the rest of the set.
In the deciding set Venus and Skupski had three break points on Miedler’s serve at 4-4, but weren’t able to convert any of those opportunities.
As served at 5-6 the Austrians managed a match point. However, Miedler put a second serve into the net, so Venus and Skupski could breathe again.
The set then progressed to a 10-point tiebreak where Venus and Skupski manged to gain a 4-2 lead and then continued to 8-4 before wrapping up the match 10-5.
This win takes Venus and Skupski's unbeaten streak to nine matches and has them up against the Australian pair of Rinky Hijikata and John Peers, who beat Andy and Jamie Murray on centre court on Thursday night.