India's Leander Paes and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia and Montenegro fell by the wayside in the men's doubles quarter-finals at Wimbledon on Wednesday.
The fifth seeds were beaten by the fourth seeded Zimbabwe pair of Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett 5-7, 6-7 (8-10, 6-7 (8-10).
However, there was some cheer for India in the mixed doubles as Mahesh Bhupathi and Mary Pierce entered the quarter-finals, beating Martin Garcia and Maria Santangelo 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
The Zimbabweans played the waiting game and effected breaks at crucial moments in the match to clinch a well-deserved victory.
In the first set, after games went with serve, Black and Ullyett got the all-important break in the 12th game to go a set up.
Paes and Zimonjic then looked set to restore parity as they broke in the third game of the second set. But unforced errors saw them being broken back in the eighth game. Both pairs held serve thereafter till the Zimbabweans clinched the set in the tie-breaker at 10-8.
The third set was a battle royal with both teams showing no signs of letting up as games went with serve. But the Zimbabweans held their nerve in the tie-breaker and clinched the issue at 10-8.
Shokeen advances
India's Vivek Shokeen and Abdullah Maqdas of Kuwait advanced to the second round of the boys' doubles event.
Shokeen and Maqdas defeated Christoph Hodl of Austria and Jochen Schottler of Germany 4-6, 6-3, 9-7 in their first round match.