Bhupathi-Knowles go down fighting

Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles twice erased the deficit but were still sent packing from the Wimbledon championships following a defeat in a marathon men's doubles quarterfinal against Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman in London on Wednesday.

The fourth seeded Indo-Bahamian pair put up a valiant fight before losing 6-7 (9), 6-4, 6-7 (7), 5-7, 4-6 in a three hour and 37 minute match to ninth seed South African-Belgian pair at the All England club.

Both the pairs played a solid service game and as the first set did not see any break it had to be decided through a fiercely fought tie-breaker, which Moody and Norman won to take the lead.

Jolted by the early deficit, Bhupathi and Knowles rode on a break of serve apart from saving the only break point they faced to clinch the second set.

With no pair willing to concede even an inch, the third set was also decided by a tie-breaker, which Moody and Norman clinched to break into lead yet again.

Bhupathi and Knowles dug deep into their reserves and went on to win the fourth set to stretch the match to fifth set but could not stop their rivals from marching into the last-eight stage.