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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.<\/b><\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Those in attendance were treated to some high-quality tennis in an absorbing encounter, where any mistake was immediately punished.<\/p>\n
But De la Puente and Spaargaren had the quality in the high-pressure moments to win 7-6 (7-1) 7-5.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“Really disappointed,” said Reid on court afterwards. “It wasn’t our best performance and they deserved it. They had a great week. <\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
Hewett added: “It is an incredible feeling to be out here on an iconic court like this. <\/p>\n
“To play in front of this crowd is what we always dream of. I hope it continues in the following years.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
But Hewett and Reid responded superbly by breaking back immediately to take the opening set to a tie-break.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
But mistakes started to creep into the British pair’s game, and a double fault by Hewett at break point got their opponents level. <\/p>\n
More errors on serve meant De la Puente and Spaargaren broke once more to seal the win and the Wimbledon title.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n