British pair battle to bronze

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7 September 2012

Great Britain's Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley came from a set down to claim a bronze medal in the women's doubles wheelchair tennis with a marathon 6-7 (8/10) 7-6 (7/2) 6-3 win over Sakhorn Khanthasit and Ratana Techamaneewat.

The Thai pair had already dumped out the fourth seeds earlier in the draw, and they looked like taking care of the third seeds as well when they took the first set on a tie-break.

Shuker and Whiley clawed it back, though, edging a marathon second set which lasted 77 minutes. The British pair then sealed the decisive break to go 5-3 up in the third, and Shuker sealed victory - and the bronze medal - with an ace after three hours and nine minutes.

The medal was Britain's second in wheelchair tennis at London 2012 following Peter Norfolk and Andy Lapthorne's silver in the quad doubles.

Whiley admitted she was way off her best at the start of the match.

"I thought I was going to have a heart attack," she said. "When we were down I knew I had to get my act together. I was playing pretty rubbish.

"I had to keep reminding myself that this is for a medal. We both managed to turn the game around.

"I was so scared [during the tie-breaks]. I can't explain how scared I was."

Shuker added: "We played so badly in the first set, we didn't play our game. I'm in disbelief at the moment that we came through and won that.

"I know Jordanne can fight back so I knew that we had a chance."

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