Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell have, agonisingly, seen a match point come and go as their ATP Finals doubles bid succumbed at the penultimate hurdle in Turin.
The Sydney mates, who were the first all-Australian pair through to the semi-finals of the season-ending men's championship since Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde in 1999, were ousted in a match tiebreak decider by Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz 2-6 6-3 [11-9] on Saturday.
The German duo gained revenge for their defeat by the Australian pair in the US Open final two months earlier as Thompson and Purcell had to reflect again on a frustrating near-miss in what has been, otherwise, a special season for them.
Just as in the Wimbledon final which they lost having held match points, the four-time winners on the ATP circuit this season had their big opportunity at 9-8 in the deciding super-breaker.
But Thompson netted when he had a good look at a potential backhand winner and the chance was gone, with the Germans going on to take the victory in 80 minutes when Purcell slammed a forehand into the net.
It was a particularly galling loss for the Aussies after they had been in irresistible form, leading by a set and a break early in the second stanza, dominating affairs to the point that their European opponents looked just a little demoralised.
But after they'd won 22 of 24 points in one purple patch, Purcell's sublime form of the opening set, in particular, began to drop off as his serve was broken twice in the second, and the steadiness of Puetz and Krawietz came increasingly to the fore.
"The first part of the match was a lesson (from the Australians) and then we tried to apply what we learned from those two," Puetz said.
"They lowered their level a bit and we came up a bit and it was close and at the end it was quite strange. But that is what happens in doubles with the scoring format."
The German pair will now face either Briton Henry Patten and Finn Harri Heliovaara or top seeds, Croatian Mate Pavic and El Salvador's Marcelo Arevalo, who meet in the other semi later on Saturday.
