Early exit for Murray brothers

Andy and Jamie Murray crashed out in the first round of the Olympic men's doubles on Saturday evening.

The British pair lost a very tight battle with Austria's Jurgen Melzer and Alexander Peya.

The Murrays were cheered on by a raucous crowd on Court Two and edged the first set but, despite being twice a break ahead in the decider, they could not close it out and went down 5-7 7-6 (8/6) 7-5 after two hours and 23 minutes.

Melzer and Peya are both very good doubles players, with Melzer a former Wimbledon doubles champion alongside his regular partner Philipp Petzschner of Germany.

The Murrays, who reached the second round in Beijing four years ago, made a brilliant start with a break in the second game and, although they were pegged back to 4-3, Jamie held serve from 0-40 to make it 6-5 and they broke again when Melzer netted a volley.

The second set was extremely tight with no breaks of serve and, although they fought back from 5-2 down in the tie-break, Jamie netted a volley that gave Melzer and Peya a set point on their own serve, which they took.

The third set was much more up and down, with the Murrays twice going a break up only for Jamie's serve to be broken and them pegged back.

Andy has always relished the opportunity to represent his country with his brother and he showed how much the occasion meant to him by flinging his racquet to the turf when he went down break point.

He staved off the threat but it was Jamie's serve that was the pair's chief weakness and he was broken for the third time in the set and the fourth in the match in the 12th game as the Austrians clinched victory.

Earlier, Elena Baltacha had got Britain's tennis players off to a winning start by overpowering Hungary's Agnes Szavay in the first round of the women's singles.

Baltacha was always in control against an opponent who has been plagued by injury problems over the past year as she claimed a 6-3 6-3 win in just over an hour.

The British number four broke serve twice in the first set and, after saving a break point in the opening game of the second, made a decisive move in the eighth game before closing out victory on her first match point.

"Very good start, delighted with that. I think for a first round match, I'm very happy with how I played," said Baltacha, who will play former world number one Ana Ivanovic of Serbia on the second round.

"I'm chuffed to be in the second round now. I was quite nervous before the match. I think once I put my GB gear on, it relaxed me more because I've been looking forward to this for such a long time."

Baltacha, the world number 102, was is competing in London despite being far from fully fit.

Her right shin is heavily strapped to relieve the pressure on an ankle problem and the Scot plans to take six months off after the Olympics - pre US Open - to

have surgery, definitely on her right ankle and possibly on her left as well.

She said: "They told me at some point I'll need to have surgery because basically the bone has grown an extra bit of bone.

"It just needs a little extra bit of shaving. They found a loose body in my ankle. I've actually got it in my left foot as well, but not as severe.

"I am thinking of having surgery very soon on it. We're talking about taking six months and having the surgery done.

"It's not a serious surgery, it's pretty straightforward. I know that at some point I need to have it done.

"I would maybe ask about having the left one done as well, if there's a chance the left one would get worse as well. Probably be smarter if I get two done."

But Anne Keothavong's Olympic debut ended in heroic failure on Centre Court as the east Londoner gave former world number one Caroline Wozniacki an almighty scare before going down in three sets.

The 28-year-old from Hackney, the world number 76, produced a performance brimming with fighting spirit, but the Dane's class told in the end as she recovered to claim a 4-6 6-3 6-2 win in just under two hours.

The home favourite broke in the opening game of the match and then battled back from 3-0 down to draw level at 3-3 in the second set.

At that point, it looked like Wozniacki, who has slipped to eighth in the world, might be heading for another early exit, having lost in the first round at the Wimbledon Championships earlier this summer.

But Keothavong's challenge faltered and her intensity dropped as she ran out of steam and Wozniacki closed out the match with ease.

Keothavong said: "I thought I got off to a great start. I played great tennis in the first set and outplayed her.

"But she did get better. I don't feel like it was a match I lost. She beat me and she was the better player."

She added: "Being out on Centre Court was amazing. It wasn't full, but the people who were there made plenty of noise. I couldn't be more proud to represent Britain."

Wozniacki said: "She served pretty well and it was tough for me to break her, but the most important thing is that I just kept fighting and kept going, and in the end I played a little bit better than she did."