Jamie Murray has the chance to bridge a 20-year gap by becoming a British Wimbledon champion.

The 21-year-old Scot, making up for the absence of injured younger brother Andy Murray, combined with Jelena Jankovic, the women's world number three, to reach the final of the mixed doubles.

The "odd couple" beat Canada's Daniel Nestor and Russian Elena Likhovtseva 6-4 4-6 6-4 in the first semi-final on Centre Court and will take on either Jonas Bjorkman, of Sweden, and Australian Alicia Molik or French pair Fabrice Santoro and Severine Bremond, in Sunday's final.

Britain's last Wimbledon champions were Jeremy Bates and Joe Durie, who lifted the mixed doubles title in 1987, 10 years after Virginia Wade's triumph in the women's singles.

"When I got to Wimbledon on the first Monday, I didn't expect that I'd be playing a match on Centre Court on Sunday, especially in mixed doubles," admitted Murray.

"We're delighted to be in the final. A Wimbledon final is a Wimbledon final. We'll be going out to win and, if we do, then it's great."

Jankovic had been a reluctant doubles partner for Murray, even suggesting he had made a big mistake with his choice.

But, as the odd couple marched through the rounds, she was forced to admit that she was enjoying herself and tonight her beaming smile lit up the dying embers of a sun-kissed Centre Court.

Fresh from a gruelling two-and-a-half-hour quarter-final against ninth seeds Marcin Matkowski (Poland) and Cara Black (Zimbabwe) on a packed Court Two, the Scottish-Serbian pair still had enough stamina to see off the 11th seeds in an entertaining three-setter.

With Murray deadly at the net and Jankovic producing an array of searing groundstrokes, it proved an irresistible pairing for the 11th seeds.

"Better than his brother" came a shout from the crowd, delighted to be able to cheer a Briton in the second week of Wimbledon, as Murray broke Nestor with a smash and then served out to take the first set.

While Nestor had to come from 0-40 down to win his opening service game, Murray and Jankovic denied their opponents so much as a break point until the British Davis Cup player came up with a casual service game at 4-5 to gift his opponents the second set.

It was merely a blemish, however, as they "home" pairing forced breaks from both opponents early in the deciding set and duly wrapped up victory after one hour and 47 minutes.

The Scottish-Serbian pair laughed and joked their way to the final against their serious-looking opponents and Murray insisted they would take their carefree attitude into the final, which will follow the men's singles final on Centre Court.

"I think so because it's not so intense," he said. "We never get to play mixed doubles. It's not like our career or anything like that.

"We'll obviously want to win but I'm sure we'll do the same as we've done in all the other matches."