Purav Raja-Fabrice Martin bow out of Wimbledon after losing five-set battle

Purav Raja-Fabrice Martin crashed out of Wimbledon after losing to the team of Mirza Basic and Dusan Lajovic in their opening men’s doubles encounter.

tennis Updated: Jul 04, 2018 20:52 IST

Purav Raja-Fabrice Martin were defeated in their Wimbledon men’s doubles encounter on Wednesday.(Twitter)

India’s Purav Raja and Fabrice Martin lost an excruciating five-set battle to Mirza Basic and Dusan Lajovic to make an early exit from the Wimbledon championships in London on Wednesday.

The Indo-French pair was staring at the barrel as they trailed by two sets but put the match on even keel before eventually tumbling 2-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, 9-11 in three hours and 37 minutes on court number six.

Serving at 9-10, Raja and Martin saved two match points but their opponents latched on to the third to claim a memorable win.

READ | Karolina Pliskova, Milos Raonic advance to third round at Wimbledon

“They hit good returns in that game and it made a difference,” Raja told PTI after the match.

Both Lajovic (58), who lost to Roger Federer in the men’s singles opening round, and Basic (78) are top-100 singles players. There are five more Indians competing in the men’s doubles.