LONDON, July 4 (PTI): Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek crashed out of the Wimbledon Championships as they were stunned by Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in a gruelling weather-hit five-setter here yesterday.
The two pairs resumed the yesterday�s suspended match and the Indo-Czech pair lost 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-8 after fighting for two hours 49 minutes in the third round of the men�s doubles event of the grass court Grand Slam.
Paes and Stepanek were trailing behind the 15th seeds Croat-Brazilian pair 6-4, 3-6, 3-4 (0-30) when rain had forced suspension of play yesterday. Paes and Stepanek came back strongly by winning the fourth set via tie-breaker and pushed the match to the deciding fifth set.
The decider, as like the other sets, tested both the pairs as they were locked 6-6 at one stage with no team relenting.
However, rains forced another suspension, which lasted more than two hours, and the break broke the momentum of Paes and Stepanek. They were trailing 6-7 when rains hit the court and they were broken immediately after the start of the play.
Paes and Stepanek were gunning for their second Grand Slam title together after winning the Australian Open in January.
