London: Indian tennis duo of went down valiantly to the French pair of Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga of France in an intense men’s doubles second round match, on Wednesday to crash out of the London Olympics.
The Indian combo put up a brave fight and took the second seeded French team to the hilt before losing the three setter 6-7 (3) 6-4 3-6 in two hours and seven minutes at the All England Club.
Leander Paes and Vishnu Vardhan
With their defeat it was curtains for India at the men's doubles tennis event of the Olympics as the other team of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna also crashed out of the tournament earlier.
Paes and his unheralded partner entered the tie as clear underdogs but then in the manner they played they left everyone in awe of them. Never in the match did they show signs of nervousness in the match and were going good in the first set. Vishnu the less fancied player of the combo played well to complement his senior pro.
The first set was on serve and the Indians lost it after a thrilling battle in the tie breaker.
However in the second set the Indians bounced back and broke Tsonga’s serve in the first game to take an early lead and eventually won the set.
Coming into the decider, it looked liked anybody’s match and was going well for the Indians till the eight game when they conceded a crucial break to go down 3-5. In the next game they had chance at the break but then the French held on to their serve and a long forehand from Vishnu saw Indian challenge end at the mega event.
By Indian Sports News Network
