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.

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.

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

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.