Leander Paes’ 23rd Wimbledon appearance ended in a first round exit on Thursday, but the stalwart did not go out without a solid fight.
Playing Adil Shamasdin, the pair’s first round match was against Julian Knowle and Philipp Oswald. The Indo-Canadian duo dragged the match to a fifth set but their Austrian opponents proved just too good as they closed the match 6-4 6-4 2-6 6-7(2) 8-10.
The match lasted just a minute short of four hours.
In a long-drawn fifth set, Paes and his Canadian partner lost serve at 8-8 and their rivals grabbed the opportunity to serve out the match in the next game.
Paes and Shamadin have won two Challenger level titles together in the 2017 season.
(The Quint is available on Telegram. For handpicked stories every day, subscribe to us on Telegram)