Leander Paes and his new partner Adil Shamasdin lost 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-7, 8-10 against Austria's Julian Knowle and Philip Oswald in the opening round of men's doubles at Wimbledon.
Who is Adil Shamasdin? That was the question on everyone's lips as the Canadian walked out along with India's Leander Paes for their first round doubles match on Court 8 at Wimbledon on Thursday. This was the first match for the two players who had decided to play together in Wimbledon on the eve of the tournament.
After about an hour Shamasdin had done enough to turn heads not just because of his ponytail, but because of his powerful service and equally effective return of serve which had the Indo-Canadian pair clinch the first two sets 6-4, 6-4 against the Austrian pairing of Julian Knowle/Philip Oswald.
Shamasdin, who is 35, and reached the quarterfinals in this category last year, was especially sharp with his returns from the back as Paes used his wonderful hands at the net to draw praise from the crowd.
However, as the match stretched and the sun became intense, it only slowed down and distracted Paes/Shamasdin. Their intensity broke down. Their serves became loose. Their returns were wide or ended in the net. Importantly, the understanding between the first-timers grew fuzzy. It allowed Knowle/Oswald to re-engage and bounce back to win the final three sets 6-2, 7-6, 10-8 in a match that stretched to just a minute short of four-hour mark.
Meanwhile, Rohan Bopanna and his French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin defeated German duo Dustin Brown and Mischa Zverev in straight sets to advance to the second round.
Bopanna/Roger-Vasselin secured breaks in fourth and sixth games in the first set to see it out 6-3. They were broken early on in the second set, but broke back in the ninth game to eventually take it into a tiebreaker, winning it 7-4. In the third set, Brown/Zverev dropped serve while trailing 5-4, thus conceding the match in just over 90 minutes.