LONDON: Britain’s Andy Murray and coach Ivan Lendl have mutually agreed to end their two-year partnership, the Wimbledon champion announced Wednesday.

In a joint statement on Murray’s website, it appeared Czech-born Lendl, himself a multiple Grand Slam champion, had been the instigator of the split.

“Working with Andy over the last two years has been a fantastic experience for me,” said Lendl.

“He is a first class guy. Having helped him achieve his goal of winning major titles, I feel like it is time for me to concentrate on some of my own projects moving forward including playing more events around the world which I am really enjoying.”

Murray, who under Lendl’s guidance won an Olympic gold medal, the 2012 US open and last year’s Wimbledon title, added: “I’m eternally grateful to Ivan for all his hard work over the past two years, the most successful of my career so far.

“I’ll take some time with the team to consider the next steps and how we progress from here,” added Murray, who is returning from back surgery and is preparing to defend his Miami title.

Murray was already one of the most talented players of his generation but it was only when working with Lendl, who like the Scot lost his initial Grand Slam finals, that he became a major winner.

Their first significant joint triumph was at the London Olympics before Murray, with eight-time major winner Lendl in his corner, won the 2012 US Open — his first Grand Slam title.

But even that success was topped by Murray’s victory over Novak Djokovic in last year’s Wimbledon final, a win that saw him become the first British player since Fred Perry 77 years earlier to win the men’s singles title.

“I will always be in Andy’s corner and wish him nothing but great success as he too goes into a new phase of his career,” Lendl added.

Shvedova beats Schiavone, sets up Miami clash with Serena

In Miami, Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova beat former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-2 at the Sony Open on Tuesday, earning a second-round meeting with world No. 1 Serena Williams.

The world number 59 broke the Italian to take the first set and broke again to move ahead 3-1 in the second before recording one final break to close out the contest and collect her first win in four meetings with the 2010 French Open champion.

Schiavone, the first Italian woman to win a grand slam, has been in miserable form losing seven consecutive first-round matches before ending the barren stretch last week at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Shvedova, whose only career WTA Tour win came seven years ago in Bangalore, has lost all three meetings with Williams but did push the six-times Miami champion to three sets during a round of 16 meeting at the 2012 Wimbledon.

The upset of the day went to 20-year-old Monica Puig who dispatched 36th ranked Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, a four-time winner on the WTA Tour, 6-1, 7-6 (9-7).

It was the second match win of the season for the 58th ranked Puerto Rican.

The tournament began on a down note for the home contingent with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands falling 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.