Indian challenge ends in men's doubles at Wimbledon

London: Purav Raja and Divij Sharan turned it around amazingly after losing the first two sets but eventually fell short in an energy-sapping five setter, shortly after Rohan Bopanna also lost his men's doubles second round at the Wimbledon championships, here on Friday.

Raja and Sharan had a match point at 6-5 in the deciding fifth set but could not convert and ended up with a 3-6 4-6 6-4 7-6(6) 8-10 defeat against seventh seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram in the second round.

The gruelling match lasted three hours and thirty minutes on court 6.

Rohan Bopanna's campaign also ended after he and Edouard Roger-Vasselin suffered a 6-7(6) 3-6 7-6(5) 3-6 defeat against Ken and Neal Skupski from Great Britain in a contest that lasted two hours and 28 minutes

With today's results, India's challenge has ended in the men's doubles since veteran Leander Paes and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan have already exited after losing their respective first round matches.

However, Raja, Sharan, Paes and Bopanna are still in hunt in the mixed doubles event with their respective partners.