London, Jul 4 (PTI) India's Purav Raja and Fabrice Martin lost an excruciating five-set battle to Mirza Basic and Dusan Lajovic to make an early exit from the Wimbledon championships, here today.

The Indo-French pair was staring at the barrel as they trailed by two sets but put the match on even keel before eventually tumbling 2-6 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, 9-11 in three hours and 37 minutes on court number six.

Serving at 9-10, Raja and Martin saved two match points but their opponents latched on to the third to claim a memorable win.

"They hit good returns in that game and it made a difference," Raja told PTI after the match.

Both Lajovic (58), who lost to Roger Federer in the men's singles opening round, and Basic (78) are top-100 singles players. There are five more Indians competing in the men's doubles.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)