New Zealand doubles player Marcus Daniell and his Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof have suffered a tight quarter final loss at the Queens ATP grass court tournament in London.
A day after beating 12 times singles Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic and three times Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, Daniell and Koolhof have lost 6-3, 6-7 (2) 10-7 in 1 hr 34 to 4th seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares.
The Kiwi number three and Koolhof only got into the main draw as lucky losers from qualifying but pushed their highly ranked opponents all the way.
It wasn't a vintage serving day for Daniell however as he was broken twice in the opening set and also lost serve twice in the second set. But Koolhof and Daniell were able to break both Murray and Soares to force a tie break which they then dominated, winning 7 points to 2.
The match went to a deciding match tie break which they dominated early racing to a 3-0 lead They then led 7-4 at at that stage looked headed for the semi finals. But Soares was able to win both his service points before Daniell lost both his and the match turned.