By Elizabeth Hudson BBC Sport at Wimbledon

Vink and Ammerlaan retained the title they won last year

Dutch pair Robin Ammerlaan and Ronald Vink recovered from losing the opening set to retain their Wimbledon Masters Series wheelchair doubles title.

The defending champions defeated French duo Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 6-3.

"We were nervous in the third set but somehow we managed to pull it out," Ammerlaan told BBC Sport.

"We were stupid to lose the first set after leading for most of it but it was good to come back and win."

The Dutch pairing, who are ranked second in the world, made a solid start to the match and went 3-0 up.

But the French pair got into gear and levelled at 3-3, and the next four games went with serve, although Houdet had to save a set point at 4-5.

Ammerlaan struggled on his own serve and was broken to put Houdet and Peifer 6-5 up but Peifer was unable to close out the set with Vink sending down a well-placed winner.

The champions grabbed the initiative in the tie-break but from 5-3 ahead, they made a couple of unforced errors and the French pair capitalised with some neat play at the net by Houdet to take it 8-6.

Again Ammerlaan and Vink went ahead in the second set, but this time they were in no mood to let the lead slip and they quickly levelled the match.

With the pressure on in the decider, Vink and Ammerlaan were forced to save a couple of break points in the third game.

"Retaining the title has been more difficult than winning it first time" Robin Ammerlaan

The French pair levelled it at 2-2 and then went 3-2 up after breaking world singles number two Ammerlaan, who struggled on his own serve.

But the Dutch recovered to show their class, breaking Houdet in the next game and Vink then held to go ahead before Peifer was broken to 15 and Ammerlaan served out for the match, clinching victory when Houdet failed to return a rasping Ammerlaan forehand.

"After losing the first set we said that it would all be about the third set and it was important to keep on the same level," added Ammerlaan, who will be bidding to retain his Paralympic singles title in Beijing later this year.

"To retain the title here is far more difficult than winning it first time. There was a lot of expectation on us this time around from people at home.

"Playing on grass last year certainly helped us in our first match on Saturday but it is not difficult to adapt because the ball bounces quite low which suits our play."

But the pair also appreciated the support they got from the crowd over the two days of competition.

"At Wimbledon, more than at any other Grand Slam event that we have played at, people come to watch the tennis and they appreciate what we are doing," said Vink.

"This is the only chance we have to play on grass which is what makes it all so special."

In the play-off for third and fourth place Poland's Tadeusz Kruszelnicki and Austria's Martin Legner beat British pair Gordon Reid and David Phillipson 6-4 6-2.