Putney boy Salisbury into Wimbledon men’s doubles semi-final after five-set thriller

By Paul Lagan on Court 2

Joe Salisbury/Rajeev Ram v Nicolas Mahut/Edouard Roger-Vaseline

6-3, 6-7, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4

Top seeds Joe Salisbury and his doubles partner Rajeev Ram inched through to the semi-finals of the men’s doubles in a gruelling five-setter, lasting three hours and 17 minutes.

Putney-born Salisbury and Ram survived a scare against their 12th seeded French opponents, Nicolas Mahut and  Edouard Roger-Vasselin to lose the fourth set when they had taken an impressive third set by 6-1.

But they recovered their composure to ensure their services were unbroken and then applied pressure on the French duo finally breaking to leave them to serve successfully out in the final set 6-4.

Salisbury and Ram were infuriated by a Hawkeye challenge which they lost a set point on in the second set.

The line judge gave the ball as out. The French pair challenged the call and Hawkeye showed the ball clearly in.

Ram in particular was irritated as he felt the ball was not only out but never close to how Hawkeye presented it.

This led the pair to stop playing, remonstrate to the umpire, who failed to calm them down, then called for the supervisor.

Whatever he said did not satisfy them, but they continued on – eventually losing that set in a tie-breaker.

The pair will play Matthew Elden and Max Purcell, the 14th seeds in the semi-final.

Picture top, Joe Salisbury/Rajeev Ram v Nicolas Mahut/Edouard Roger-Vaseline
Picture: Paul Lagan