By Jonathan Green

Sidcup tennis player Lewis Burton believes missed chances cost him and partner Marcus Willis as the pair’s bid for a spot at Wimbledon was halted at the first qualifying round.

In an incredibly tight encounter with the number eight seeds Konstantin Kravchuk and Tim Puetz, the British pair lost out in straight sets 6-7 (10-12), 6-7 (6-8).

“Defeat feels even more painful when the scoreline is that tight,” Burton said.

“There was nothing in it really. We held our serves and tiebreaks can go either way.

“We had set point first set, set point second set and we just didn’t take out chances. We need to try and improve our returns to make our opponents play more balls.

“We’ve had tough draws through the grass but we’re thankful for Wimbledon for giving us the wildcard in the first place so we can’t really complain.”

Burton and Willis overcame a shaky start, having to save break point in the opening game, going on to concede just six points in their remaining six first set service games.

And in the first set tiebreak they recovered from 3-0 to have a set point at 9-8 but Kravchuk and Puetz broke back to take the set.

Despite the setback, Burton and Willis continued strongly, frequently stretching their more experienced opponents.

At 5-5 they created themselves a break point but Kravchuk saved the point with an ace.

The tie-break was once again a close encounter but, like in the first set, the British pair were unable to take the set when the chance was there to take the match to a decider.

But Burton believes the result shows he and Willis can compete on the big stage, having also run Colin Fleming and Andre Sa close earlier this month, and he is confident they will continue to progress as a pair in the future.

“This shows we’re at the right level,” Burton added.

“We were competing against guys 20 in the world three weeks ago and we had match points against them.

“It’s tough to take but we’ve got to keep going and I’m sure it will click.

“There are plenty of positives to take from this moving forward.

“Hopefully next year we can get in directly rather than having to use a wildcard.”

As the official banking partner of the championships, HSBC is helping fans get closer to Wimbledon by giving them the chance to win Centre Court tickets.

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