Britain’s Jamie Murray fell short in his bid to retain the Wimbledon mixed doubles title as he and Belarusian partner Victoria Azarenka were beaten by Alexander Peya and Nicole Melichar.

Austrian Peya and American Melichar, the 11th seeds, won 7-6 (7-1) 6-3.

Murray, who won last year with now retired Swiss Martina Hingis, paired up at the last minute with former singles number one Azarenka.

They saved match point at 5-2 in the second set but lost in the next game.

“I didn’t really return well enough, didn’t feel I served that good either,” Murray, 32, said.

“It’s been awesome, we earned it getting to the final. It has been a lot of fun to play with Vika.”

The warning signs were there for Murray and Azarenka in the seventh game of the first set on the Belarusian’s serve, which went to seven deuces before they held on, having fended off two break points.

Peya and Melichar dominated their service games and whizzed through the tie-break, winning it when Murray double-faulted.

Murray and Azarenka missed three chances to break in the first game of the second set and were then broken in the next game as their opponents looked increasingly confident and carried their momentum on to victory.

Scot Murray had initially chosen to miss the mixed event this year to focus on the men’s doubles to protect his sore knees.

But the opportunity to partner two-time Australian Open singles champion Azarenka, 28, persuaded him to take part.

For Azarenka, who has not played as much tennis as she has wanted because of a custody battle over her 18-month-old son, it has given her extra court time after defeat in the second round of the women’s singles.

“It’s been a great two weeks. We came up a little short but we’ve produced great entertaining tennis,” said Azarenka, whose shoe had her son Leo’s name on it along with a heart.

“It’s been important for me to play in those situations where the momentum changes a lot of time and figure out a way.”

The pair have not ruled out teaming up again for mixed doubles in the future.

Novak Djokovic earned his first Grand Slam title in more than two years by beating Kevin Anderson to win his fourth Wimbledon championship.

Djokovic, seeded 12th, won 6-2 6-2 7-6 (7-3) to claim a 13th Slam – his first major since the 2016 French Open.

The Serb, 31, quickly took control to win the opening set in 29 minutes, breaking twice more in the second set.

Djokovic saw off five set points in an even third set before dominating the tie-break to seal victory.

He dropped to his haunches just inside the baseline as Centre Court rose to acclaim the champion, hugging South African Anderson at the net before skipping over towards his box and celebrating wildly in front of his coaching team and wife Jelena.

“I had many moments of doubt, I didn’t know if could come back to this level to compete,” said Djokovic, who also won the Wimbledon title in 2011, 2014 and 2015.

“There is no better place to make a comeback, it’s a sacred place for the world of tennis, it’s very special.”

He is now in outright fourth place on the all-time list of Grand Slam men’s singles titles, moving clear of Roy Emerson and closing the gap on Roger Federer (20), Rafael Nadal (17) and Pete Sampras (14).

The former world number one will move back into the top 10 when the latest rankings are released on Monday.

It is his first title since winning Eastbourne last year.

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Djokovic back to his Slam-winning best

Djokovic dominated the men’s game earlier this decade, holding the number one ranking for 223 weeks and completing a career Grand Slam when he claimed the title at Roland Garros two years ago.

Then, his cloak of invincibility began to slip.

After losing to Sam Querrey in the third round of Wimbledon in 2016, Djokovic alluded to difficulties in his personal life and his form subsequently tailed off.

Fitness also became an issue, taking two spells away from the ATP Tour because of an elbow injury, leading to him dropping out of the world’s top 20 earlier this year for the first time since 2006.

Now he is back among the world’s elite after a wonderful Wimbledon.

Djokovic broke twice in each of the opening two sets, dismantling 6ft 8in Anderson’s service game and grinding him down in the rallies.

Anderson rarely ventured forward and offered little variation – until the third set at least – but Djokovic nullified the increased threat to win in two hours and 18 minutes.

Slow start for Anderson after marathon match

While Djokovic’s troubles have been well documented, eighth seed Anderson has enjoyed his own renaissance in the past 12 months.

The 32-year-old cracked the world’s top 10 for the first time towards the end of 2015, but faced a catalogue of injury problems during 2016 and dropped towards the foot of the top 100 as a result.

However, he has battled back to reach two Grand Slam finals and a top-five ranking over the past 18 months.

While reaching last year’s US Open final showed he possesses an all-round game, Anderson’s biggest weapon remains his serve – which he lost in the opening game against Djokovic with a double fault on break point.

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Britain’s Jack Draper lost to Taiwanese top seed Tseng Chun-hsin in a gripping boys’ singles final at Wimbledon.

Draper, hoping to become the first British boys’ champion since 1962, was beaten 6-1 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 by fellow 16-year-old Tseng.

Watched by a packed Court One, who were vocal in support for the young Briton, Draper gave himself hope by taking the second set but was let down by a huge 42 unforced errors.

Tseng sealed victory with an ace.

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Previous winners of the boys’ title include 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, and while there are plenty of big names who never won a junior Slam, on this year’s form Tseng could be a player to watch in the future.

A winner at this year’s junior French Open and runner-up at January’s event at the Australian Open, Tseng had not dropped a set in his previous five rounds here.

After the first set it looked like it was going to be straightforward for him before Surrey-born Draper staged an impressive fightback to take the second set.

But Draper’s wayward shots, as well as flashes of temper – he had to swap racquets after smashing one into the grass – were costly against the calm Tseng.

The left-hander handed match point to the Taiwanese when he missed a straightforward volley at the net, lying on the grass in disbelief, before Tseng wrapped up the title with his ninth ace of the match.

Britain’s Lucy Shuker and German partner Sabine Ellerbrock lost the Wimbledon women’s wheelchair doubles final to Diede de Groot and Yui Kamiji.

The Netherlands’ De Groot and Kamiji of Japan won 6-1 6-1 on court three.

It was Kamiji’s fifth straight women’s doubles title at Wimbledon – the previous four were with Briton Jordanne Whiley – and 125th title in total.

Shuker, 38, told BBC Sport: “It’s been humbling to be here, I love playing at Wimbledon.

“I still have a bit of a love-hate relationship because the grass is so difficult for me, but how could you not love being here?”

De Groot became the first wheelchair player to win singles and doubles titles in the same year at Wimbledon.

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