Wimbledon: Heartbreak For Purav Raja-Divij Sharan, Rohan Bopanna Exits

Purav Raja and Divij Sharan came very close to making the men's doubles third round at Wimbledon on Friday. Unfortunately for the unseeded duo, they fell just short as they lost a marathon three-and-a-half-hour battle against South Africa's Raven Klaasen and American Rajeev Ram 3-6 4-6 6-4 7-6(6) 8-10. Rohan Bopanna, too, lost his men's doubles second round match and with that ended the Indian challenge at the event. Bopanna and partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin suffered a 6-7(6) 3-6 7-6(5) 3-6 defeat against British pair Ken and Neal Skupski.

Leander Paes and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan had lost out earlier in the first round of the men's doubles.

Sharan and Raja lost the first two sets but did an amazing job to bounce back and level scores. They even had a match point in the deciding set at 6-5 but failed to convert it against the seventh seeds. Bopanna and Roger-Vasselin, who were seeded eighth, lost in two hours and 28 minutes as they failed to capitalize on chances.

However, their hopes in the mixed doubles are still alive. Raja is playing with Japan's Eri Hozumi while Sharan will be pairing with China's Zhaoxuan Yang. 

Meanwhile, Paes' challenge at Wimbledon came to an end when he lost out in the first round of the mixed doubles on Friday. With partner Yifan Xu of China, they lost to 7-5 3-6 2-6 to Fabrice Martin and Raluca Olaru.

(With PTI inputs)