Wimbledon: Indian challenge ends in men's doubles; Leander Paes loses in mixed doubles

London, July 7: Indian tennis players Rohan Bopanna and Purav Raja were beaten by their opponents in their respective categories and bowed out of the Wimbledon here on Friday (July 7).

In the men's doubles category, the eighth seed pair of Bopanna and his French partner Édouard Roger-Vasselin never looked in the contention as the British pair of Neal Skupski and Ken Skupski outplayed the Indo-French pair 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.

In other match, Purav Raja and Divij Sharan were also beaten by Rajeev Ram of America and Raven Klaasen of South Africa in a hard fought battle. The game went to the tie breaker, in which the Ram and Klaasen proved superior against the Indian pair to clinch the issue 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (10-8).

Earlier, on Thursday, Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin edged past German pair of Dustin Brown and Mischa Zverev 6-3, 7-6, 6-4 to advance, while Purav Raja and Divij Sharan defeated the British-Portuguese pair of Kyle Edmunds and Joao Sousa 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(8).

Veteran Leander Paes also crashed out of Wimbledon as he lost in the mixed doubles. He and partner Xu Yifan of China went down 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 to Farbrice Martin (France) and Raluca Olaru (Romania). Paes had already lost in men's doubles on Thursday (July 6).

IANS