Tennis: Erakovic knocked out of doubles

Kiwi Marina Erakovic has been knocked out of the doubles third round at Wimbledon after a two and a half hour battle which was spread over two days due to rain.

Erakovic and Thai partner, Tamarine Tanasugarn lost 3-6, 6-2, 5-7, in a tight contest to the fifth seeded Russian pair, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.

The contest began the previous night but was suspended due to rain, with Erakovic and Tanasugarn up 3-2 in the first set.

However when the match resumed under threatening skies last night it was the Russians who started well, reeling off the next five games in a row, taking the set 6-3 and winning the first game of the second set before the Kiwi and Thai combination managed a game on the scoreboard to level at 1-1.

The rain returned and the players were again forced from the court.

When they returned, the Kiwi and Thai pair, who reached the semis of the doubles at Wimbledon last year, took the second set 6-2, however were narrowly pipped 7-5 in the final set by the Russians.

Despite the loss, Erakovic and Tanasugarn won 91 points to the Russians 89 points in total.
Erakovic will now travel to California for the two US$740,000 WTA events at Stanford and then Carlsbad before returning to London for the Olympics.