Wimbledon 2017: Heather Watson &Henri Kontinen through, Ken & Neal Skupski lose

Reigning champions Heather Watson and Henri Kontinen continued their defence of the Wimbledon mixed doubles with a comfortable last-16 victory.

Britain’s Watson and Finnish playing partner Kontinen won 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 against fourth seeds Ivan Dodig and Sania Mirza.

They play 10th seeds Rohan Bopanna and Gabriela Dabrowski in the last eight.

Watson and Kontinen, who are unseeded, won last year’s tournament having never played together previously.

Earlier, British brothers Ken and Neal Skupski lost their first Grand Slam quarter-final in the men’s doubles.

The pair, from Liverpool, lost 7-6 (13-11) 6-4 6-4 against fourth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.

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Ken, 34, and Neal, 28, missed three sets points in a 20-minute tie-break before fourth seeds Kubot and Melo took an hour-long opener.

Poland’s Kubot and Brazilian Melo needed a single break in each of the following sets to reach the last four.

Later on Wednesday, Ken Skupski and fellow Briton Jocelyn Rae earned a thrilling victory in the mixed doubles to set up a quarter-final tie against top seeds Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis.

Skupski and Rae won 5-7 6-4 9-7 against ninth seeds Max Mirnyi and Ekaterina Makarova in fading light on Court One.

The British pair needed two and 21 minutes before Rae, a 26-year-old from Nottingham, served out their third match point.

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