The roar coming from No.3 Court on Saturday evening was a sure indication of the sizeable upset wild card pairing Marcus Willis and Jay Clarke had just sprung.
The Brits, in their Grand Slam main draw doubles debut, stunned defending champions Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-3 to advance to the third round.
After they had racked up triple match point on Herbert’s serve at 5-4 in the fourth set, Clarke and Willis looked to have botched their chances when they lost eight straight points – one of Clarke’s wayward returns even thumped Willis in the back of the head.
Just when it appeared the French No.2 seeds would run away with it, having been let off the queue cast aside the momentary wobble.
They broke in the second game of the fifth set and never looked back. Willis served it out after three hours and 13 minutes to send the home crowd into a frenzy.
“Yeah, I don't really know how to explain that one. We played great. Crowd got behind us. I'm a bit speechless, to be honest,” Willis said. “Expectations were to lose probably, but I knew we could get close. If we rack up the games on our serve, anything can happen. We took a few risks, [it] paid off.”
The 26-year-old Willis provided one of the stories of last year's Championships when he came through pre-qualifying to reach the second round in singles, where he fell to Roger Federer on Centre Court.
He will have the chance to create more Wimbledon glory. He and Clarke next meet Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic, the No.16 seeds, for a place in their first Grand Slam quarter-final. For Clarke it continues a dream Grand Slam debut.
“Obviously, yeah it means a lot,” Clarke said. “Not only to win matches here but to beat the guys who won it last year because we watch a lot of tennis and we've obviously watched these guys win so many tournaments.
“To actually beat them, it's unbelievable. We have only just started playing doubles, really.”
