Murray 'lite' lifts British spirits

With British spirits in desperate need of a lift, the 21-year-old brother of absentee Andy combined with his American partner Eric Butorac to score a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Spain's Oscar Hernandez and Italy's Potito Starace.

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It was a fairly gentle introduction to the tournament against a pair of clay-courters but very watchable, and if there is going to be any success for Britain in this tournament it will have to be in the two-man code.

Jamie was watched by mother Judy and he and his partner's Canadian coach Louis Cayer courtside, but younger brother Andy chose to keep a lower profile, watching from high up in the competitors' restaurant overlooking court No 2.

Murray, who has risen to a doubles ranking of 33, and Butorac have already won three titles this year, including last week's Nottingham Open on grass, but to progress further they will need to beat the seventh-seeded pair of Israel's Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.

Jamie, for whom this was a first win in a Grand Slam event, is not feeling any special weight of expectation when flying the family flag.

"We go out there and try to win a match for ourselves and I am sure everyone else is doing the same, it wasn't a great match but we did what we needed to do," he said.

"Andy was there but I haven't spoken to him this week. He wouldn't want to be around the tournament too much when he is not playing."

After a week in which British wins have been as rare as Dodo sightings, there was also some consolation British cheer provided by Richard Bloomfield and Jonny Marray, who may have been among those Tim Henman had in mind earlier when he criticised too many awards of singles wildcards.

Although comprehensive losers when playing solo, they teamed up to beat Thai brothers Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana 7-6, 6-4, 6-4. With their singles cheques it takes their earnings at the tournament to at least £14,300.

Norwich's James Auckland was another British success in the doubles. He and his Australian partner Stephen Huss beat Ilia Bozolzac and Dick Norman in four sets.

Lee Childs and Jamie Delgado pushed third seeds Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic hard before losing in four sets.

A real bonus for those having non-show court tickets was the sight of the Williams sisters going out to number 18 to take on Northern Ireland's Clare Curran and Anne Keothavong, whom they duly beat 6-1, 6-3 in 65 minutes.