Wimbledon enters second week as fans root for British players in doubles events

Wimbledon will enter its second week as home fans root for remaining British players in the doubles competitions after a series of wins on middle Sunday.

Hopes of a British singles Wimbledon champion ended at SW19 after no UK players made it through to Sunday’s fourth round.

But Jamie Murray won both his men’s and mixed doubles matches on Sunday – with similar success for British pair Joe Salisbury and Heather Watson, who also made it through to the third round.

British number one Katie Boulter and her Australian boyfriend Alex De Minaur were sunk in three sets by their opponents.

Tension sparked on Court One when Belarusian Victoria Azarenka left the court to a chorus of boos after losing a dramatic fourth-round contest to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.

The crowd had been overwhelmingly behind Svitolina throughout and produced a deafening roar when she clinched a victory.

The former world number three had been booed at the French Open for refusing to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian opponents, but here it was Azarenka – who put her hand up to acknowledge Svitolina before leaving the court – that received loud jeers.

It was unclear whether the fans thought it was she who had snubbed her opponent and Azarenka gave a long, lingering stare before banging her fists together as she walked off.

The dry weather enjoyed by players and spectators alike on Sunday should persist.

On Monday, the Met Office said the South East will stay mostly dry, with temperatures reaching a maximum of 23C or 24C.

Rain will spread from the South West towards the North East with heavy thunderstorms at times, but also some patches of sun, the forecasting body predicted.

The second week of the tournament will welcome more celebrities to Wimbledon.

On Sunday, physicist Brian Cox sat among a cluster of stars in the Royal Box on Centre Court.

Oscar-winning actor Daniel Kaluuya, Olympic gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie, former Pointless co-presenter Richard Osman and singer Ellie Goulding also took their seats in the box.

Also present was Love Actually director Richard Curtis, who signed a letter asking tournament organisers to remove Barclays as sponsors of the competition on climate change grounds ahead of the event kicking off on Monday.

Away from Centre Court on Sunday, umpire John Blom warned spectators not to pop champagne corks when players are about to serve.

Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva had been playing against Anastasia Potapova on Court Three when the umpire gave the warning to a laughing crowd.

He said: “Ladies and gentlemen, please if you are opening a bottle of champagne, don’t do it as the players are about to serve.”