Great Britain’s Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid were unable to defend their Wimbledon men’s wheelchair doubles title as they were beaten in a thrilling final by Martin de la Puente and Ruben Spaargaren.
Hewett and Reid were going for an incredible 24th Grand Slam title as a pair – and a third in a row at SW19 – and were backed by a vocal home crowd on Court One.
Those in attendance were treated to some high-quality tennis in an absorbing encounter, where any mistake was immediately punished.
But De la Puente and Spaargaren had the quality in the high-pressure moments to win 7-6 (7-1) 7-5.
There was also defeat for Great Britain’s Gregory Slade as he and Donald Ramphadi lost in the men’s quad wheelchair doubles final – for athletes with significant impairments in both upper and lower limbs – 6-0 6-2 to top seeds Guy Sasson and Niels Vink.
“Really disappointed,” said Reid on court afterwards. “It wasn’t our best performance and they deserved it. They had a great week.
“You never want to finish the week with a loss but if you are going to do it anywhere it is here in front of this crowd.”
Hewett added: “It is an incredible feeling to be out here on an iconic court like this.
“To play in front of this crowd is what we always dream of. I hope it continues in the following years.”
It was clear this was going to be high-calibre final from the outset as there was little to separate either pair until a titanic tussle at 5-5 ended with De la Puente and Spaargaren getting the break.
But Hewett and Reid responded superbly by breaking back immediately to take the opening set to a tie-break.
It felt like the British duo had the momentum but their opponents flew out of the blocks, winning six unanswered points on their way to taking the first set.
Top seeds Hewett and Reid are the dominant force in wheelchair doubles and duly fought back from that disappointment – they immediately got a break and followed it up with the hold to lead 2-0.
But mistakes started to creep into the British pair’s game, and a double fault by Hewett at break point got their opponents level.
More errors on serve meant De la Puente and Spaargaren broke once more to seal the win and the Wimbledon title.
