New Zealand doubles specialists Michael Venus has missed out on a chance to play in two Wimbledon finals this year.
The 30-year-old had already qualified for the men's doubles final, but he and Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik lost their mixed doubles semi-final on Saturday (NZ time) to Alexander Peya from Austria and his American partner Nicole Melichar 6-4 6-4.
He and Srebotnik were the ninth seeds in the mixed doubles and were taking on the 11th seeds.
But there were early breaks of serves in each set suffered by the New Zealand and Slovenian combination, and that proved decisive.
The match lasted for 52 minutes, which is the only blessing in the defeat as it allows Venus more time to get refreshed for his final on Sunday when he and Raven Klaasen play against Jack Sock and Mike Bryan.
Newshub.
