Wimbledon: Leander Paes-Adil Shamasdin bow out after marathon first round loss

India’s veteran tennis star Leander Paes and his Canadian partner Adil Shamasdin were knocked out of the Wimbledon after facing a first round defeat in a grilling five-set encounter against Austria’s Julian Knowle and Philipp Oswald on Thursday. The duo of Paes and Shamasdin lost 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-7,(2-7), 8-10 to its Austrian rivals in the marathon first-round contest that lasted for four hours.

The Indo-Canadian team faced three break points on their serve in the deciding fifth set. But, after saving two break points, they couldn’t save the third, which came about in the 17th game of the set. Paes and Shamasdin scored 12 aces and nine double faults while the Austrians hit 10 aces and eight double faults.

In women’s doubles event, Sania Mirza and her Belgian team-mate Kirsten Flipkens progressed to the second round yesterday. Indian team of Purav Raja and Divij Sharan also made it to the second round.