French Open: Andy Murray and Dan Evans suffer first-round doubles exit at Roland Garros
Andy Murray and Dan Evans' doubles partnership fell at the first hurdle as they were beaten in the opening round of the French Open.
The pair joined forces at Roland Garros looking to lift the mood somewhat, after the British singles players suffered a first-round wipeout in Paris.
But they were edged out in a tight encounter against Thiago Seyboth Wild and Sebastian Baez, who battled through two tie-breaks to win 7-6 (6) 7-6 (3).
Murray intends to compete at the Paris Olympics in what is likely to be the final summer of his career, with Evans a likely partner for the return to Roland Garros.
But the duo, among six Britons knocked out in the singles first round of the French Open, fell just short on Friday against experienced Brazilian-Argentinian pair Seyboth Wild and Baez.
The focus will now switch to the grass-court season, with Murray revealing he might play doubles with his brother Jamie at Wimbledon this summer.
“I may do, yeah. I’m not 100 per cent sure yet,” he sad. “My brother doesn’t have a partner for Wimbledon currently.
“We have spoken a little bit about it. So may do that, but not 100 per cent sure yet.
“I mean obviously Jamie could also get a good partner, as well. We’ll see what happens, but yeah, we’ll probably decide in the next few days probably.”
Katie Boulter and Heather Watson also suffered an early doubles exit, losing 6-1 3-6 7-5 to Chan Hao-ching and Veronika Kudermetova.
There was better news as Britain's Joe Salisbury and American partner Rajeev Ram earned a straight-sets win to progress into the second round with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Adam Pavlasek and Ariel Behar.
Salisbury and Ram have picked up four Grand Slam doubles titles together, most recently the 2023 US Open, but are looking to progress beyond the quarter-finals at the French Open for the first time.