Raja-Martin lose five-set battle

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, here on Wednesday.

The Indo-French pair was staring at the barrel, trailing 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.

“They hit good returns in that game and it made a difference,” Raja said.

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.