Wheelchair tennis stars Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett suffered further Paralympic heartbreak at the hands of French pair Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer following a dramatic three-set doubles defeat in Tokyo.
The British pair – beaten finalists in Rio – once again had to settle for silver medals at the end of a topsy-turvy encounter which the experienced defending champions snatched 7-5 0-6 7-6 (3).
Reid and Hewett overcame the setback of dropping the opening set to lead the decider 3-1 but could not capitalise before a tense tie-break went against them.
It's silver for @GordonReid91 and @alfiehewett6🥈 So, so close. Oh what a match. 👏#ImpossibleToIgnore #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/u7g5cQE3qu — ParalympicsGB (@ParalympicsGB) September 3, 2021
They will return to court at the Ariake Tennis Park on Saturday to face each other in the bronze medal singles match having lost semi-finals on Thursday.