LONDON — The Serena Williams–Andy Murray partnership had a winning start at Wimbledon.
The two former singles champions easily won their opening mixed doubles match Saturday, beating Andreas Mies and Alexa Guarchi 6-4, 6-1 on Centre Court.
The high-profile duo was met with a loud ovation as they walked on for Murray’s first match on Centre Court since 2017. The two-time men’s champion missed last year’s tournament with an injury and is only playing doubles at the moment after having surgery on his hip.
“It worked out well. We’ve never played together so it’s always a learning curve,” Williams said. “We take it very serious, so that’s why we’re in it.”
It was the second match of the day for both players. Williams beat Julia Goerges in the third round of the singles tournament, while Murray and partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert lost in men’s doubles.
They will play 14th-seeded Fabrice Martin and Raquel Atawo in the second round.
In another mixed doubles match, Coco Gauff tasted her first defeat of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships as the 15-year-old American and her partner, Jay Clarke, were beaten in the opening round.
The partnership caused a stir at the All England Club this week after it was revealed that Britain’s Clarke ditched regular doubles partner Harriet Dart via last-minute text message in order to play with the teenager.
However, the new duo’s journey was short-lived as Gauff and Clarke were beaten 6-1, 6-4 by Sweden’s Robert Lindstedt and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in just over an hour Saturday.
“It was superfun to play with him,” Gauff said afterward. “I hope we can play again together in the future.”
When asked if he had spoken to Dart since, Clarke said: “Everything is fine. I think the media obviously did a pretty good job of making it bigger than what it was. It happens like that.”
Teenager Gauff has been a sensation at the London Grand Slam. She became the youngest player in the Open Era to qualify for the main draw before going on to beat five-time champion Venus Williams in the opening round.
Gauff defeated 2017 semifinalist Magdalena Rybarikova in the second round before producing a miraculous comeback against Polona Hercog on Friday to advance to the second week.
Her run had drawn attention from outside the sports world. Gauff said Friday that she was “screaming” to receive an Instagram message from Beyonce’s mother, and on Saturday she addressed being tweeted about by former first lady Michelle Obama.
“I was super-excited,” Gauff said of the Obama tweet. “She’s one of my role models. So it was just cool to see that she knows I exist.”
Clarke was beaten by Roger Federer in the second round of the singles, while compatriot Dart suffered a third-round defeat to Ashleigh Barty on Saturday.
ESPN’s Rob Bartlett and The Associated Press contributed to this report.