JAMIE MURRAY failed to provide some consolation for younger brother Andy’s failure to reach the Wimbledon men’s final when he and partner Liezel Huber were beaten in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles.

The unseeded pair lost 6-2 7-5 on Centre Court to ninth seeds Mark Knowles, of the Bahamas, and Germany’s Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

Huber twice dropped her serve and Murray was broken to love in the fourth game as the British-American pair went a set down.

They were more competitive in the second set, which remained on serve until Murray, who won the title two years ago with Jelena Jankovic, was broken in the ninth game.

Knowles was broken for the first time as he served for the match but Groenefeld made no mistake as she set up a meeting in the final with India’s Leander Paes and Zimbabwean Cara Black, who gained a 6-4 6-4 win over Brazil’s Andre Sa and Japan’s Ai Sugiyama.

■ Defending champions Serena and Venus Williams thrashed the top seeds to secure their place in the women’s doubles final.

The sisters, who will contest today’s singles final, took apart the game of Zimbabwe’s Cara Black and American Liezel Huber to win 6-1 6- 2 on Court One.

The tone was set from the start as the American pair, seeded fourth, won the opening five games, and the Black- Huber team could not fight back in the second set.

Chasing a fourth doubles title at Wimbledon, after triumphs in 2000, 2002 and 2008, the Williamses will face Australians Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs.