LONDON, July 9: Jamie Murray became the first British winner at Wimbledon in 20 years when he and Serbian partner, Jelena Jankovic defeated Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Australia's Alicia Molik in Sunday's mixed doubles final.

The 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 victory provided a buzzing late evening Centre Court crowd with their first home winner since Britons Jeremy Bates and Jo Durie won the same event in 1987.

The pair, watched by Murray's tearful parents Judy and Willie, were given a five-minute standing ovation. Brother Andy, ranked number eight in the world, appeared only at the end, too nervous to watch his older sibling in action.

“It was like destiny, it was meant to happen,” said Jankovic of her last minute decision to play in what was a first mixed Grand Slam for both.

Jankovic joked earlier in the week that her lack of doubles experience rendered her of little use to her partner but it was the 22-year-old Serb's ferocious returns that eventually fired them to victory.

“She won the match in the end because she kept returning the guy's serve and I couldn't do it,” admitted Murray, who has invited his fellow champion to Scotland for Christmas.

The 21-year-old doubles specialist played some scintillating volleys early on to inspire the consistently smiling unseeded pair to a tight first-set victory and fire up the partisan support.

Bjorkman and Molik, who have won 11 doubles grand slam titles between them and were seeded fifth, broke twice to level but a double final-set break gave the Serb, the Scot and the home crowd the championship finish they wanted.—Reuters