India’s Purav Raja and Fabrice Martin lost a five-set thriller to Mirza Basic and Dusan Lajovic to bow out in the first round of Wimbledon on Wednesday.
The Indo-French pair was staring at the barrel as they trailed by two sets but they fought back in an impressive manner to win the next two. In the fifth set, the battle extended to 20 games, but they eventually tumbled to 2-6 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, 9-11 in three hours and 37 minutes.
Serving at 9-10, Raja and Martin saved two match points but their opponents latched on to the third to claim a memorable win.
“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.
With inputs from PTI
