Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson have been left devastated, suffering the heartbreak of losing in the Wimbledon men’s doubles final after holding three Championship points.
The Australian pair were on the verge of continuing the rich tradition of Australian doubles winners at Wimbledon on Saturday evening only to have the title snatched away from them on Centre Court in the most dramatic of climaxes by Finland’s Harri Heliovaara and Briton Henry Patten.
In what will go down as one of the great doubles finals at the grass-court slam, the Centre Crowd court were left hailing their local hero, Patten, as the Anglo-Finn partnership prevailed in a thrilling deciding super tie-breaker 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (11-9).
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The Sydneysiders, pals from way back, had for long parts of the match looked set to emerge victorious, as they were so dominant behind their serves, not giving up a sniff of a break point.
Three times, they were just one point away from becoming the seventh Australian men’s doubles team in the Open era to lift the crown.
They had a Championship point at 6-5 in the second set, and another two came and went in the subsequent tie-break. Thompson, in particular, looked pained by one of the easier volleys he had missed all day on the third match point at 8-7.
“Beyond devastated,” he told the Centre Court crowd, who were still on a high after watching a Briton triumph – and a few titters followed his sad admission.
It prompted Purcell to chip in and tell them sharply: “Don’t laugh at him!”
Purcell, who had won the title with Matt Ebden two years ago in what was then a five-set thriller, was left bemoaning how Wimbledon organisers have since then reduced men’s doubles finals from five to three sets.
“It would have been nice to have the extra two sets to play with this time, for sure,” sighed Purcell.
‘Tommo’ later concluded: “Plain and simple, it just sucks. Match points, one point away from being a Wimbledon doubles champion.
“Five-two up, serving in that second-set breaker, I got the ball right in front of me and it’s just clipped the net cord and gone over me and then that’s turned things around, and it changes quickly. That’s the way tennis goes. It’s tough.”
In a match of no breaks, the Sydney pair conjured up the only three break-point chances and had the best opportunities to seize the day in the final set, only to be constantly thwarted by the stubborn Heliovaara and Patten, who gradually became more inspired as the crowd really got behind them.
The Australian pair, the 15th seeds, were hot favourites, after having won three titles together this season, to prevail against unseeded opponents.
Now the last hope of Australian success at SW19 lies on Sunday’s final day with exciting 16-year-old Gold Coast prospect Emerson Jones, who became the first Australian girl since Ash Barty 13 years ago to reach the junior final.
Jones, the No.3 seed, defeated American sixth seed Iva Jovic 7-5 6-1 in her semi-final on Saturday to set up a rematch with Slovakian Renata Jamrichova, who defeated her soundly 6-4 6-1 in the Australian Open girls’ final in January.
Jones was unable to get to the girls’ doubles final, though, beaten 7-5 7-6 (7-5) in the semi with her Italian partner Vittoria Paganetti by Jovic and her US compatriot Tyra Caterina Grant.