Kiwi tennis player Michael Venus and Croatian doubles partner Mate Pavic have suffered heartbreak at Wimbledon after losing their third-round contest 16-14 in the fifth set.
The match against third seeds Jamie Murray (Scotland) and Bruno Soares (Brazil) had been suspended the previous day due to bad light after four hours and 51 minutes.
Venus and Pavic had rallied from two sets down to level it at two sets apiece but, after an additional 11 minutes overnight, Murray and Soares sealed progress to the fourth round 6-3 7-6(3) 4-6 4-6 16-14.
When the players returned to court 17 to try to complete the match, both combinations held serve to love to take the scores to 14-all. But the third seeds then held again before breaking in the 30th game on their first match point of the day.
Venus was aiming to be the first Kiwi male into a quarter-final of a grand slam since Brett Steven in the doubles in 1998 at Wimbledon with American Pat Galbraith.
