LONDON – Former LSU tennis player Neal Skupski and partner Anna Smith of the United Kingdom reached the third round of mixed doubles after defeating Ivan Dodig and Sania Mirza, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, in the second round at Wimbledon’s All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club Tuesday.
The pair will compete in the third round Thursday against the 14th seed Aisam Quereshi and Yaroslava Shevdova.
Skupski and Smith opened the first round of mixed doubles play with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Colin Fleming and Jocelyn Rae.
Former Tiger Michael Venus advanced to the third round of doubles at Wimbledon for the second consecutive year with partner Mate Pavic of Croatia. It marked the sixth time that the former All-American and SEC Player of the Year reached the round of 16 at a grand slam.
The duo opened up the first round of doubles play with a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory against Chris Guccione and André Sá.
They followed with a 6-4, 7-6(4) win in the second round against Guillermo Duran and Maximo Gonzalez.
Venus and Pavic fell to the third seed Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, 6-3, 7-6(3), 4-6, 4-6, 16-14, in a thrilling five hour match.
Former tennis player Ken Skupski also competed in mixed doubles with partner Tara Moore and dropped the first round, 6-3, 6(7)-7, 6-3, to Robert Lindstet and Anabel Medina Garrigues.
The Skupski brothers participated in the main doubles draw and advanced to the second round after defeating Lukasz Kubot and Alexander Peya, 2-6, 7-6(7), 11-9, to open the tournament.
The Tigers currently have four former players on the pro circuit with Michael Venus ranked 39 in doubles and 895 in singles. The Skupski brothers are currently ranked 83 in doubles, and James Cluskey is ranked 1,297 in doubles.
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