Paris: Indian challenge in the ATP Paris
Masters tennis tournament ended after Mahesh Bhupathi and
Leander Paes, along with their respective partners, crashed
out of the doubles event following unexpected second-round
defeats here.
The third seeded pair of Bhupathi and Bahamian Mark
Knowles lost 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-10 to the unseeded Swede-Australian
combination of Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley.
Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy, who were seeded
fourth, also went down to unseeded rivals, losing 7-6 (5), 4-6,
5-10 to the Australian-American pair of Jordan Kerr and Travis
Parrott in the euro 2,750,000 event.
Paes and Dlouhy were the first to take the court and had
to fight hard in the opening set itself, saving five break
points before prevailing in the tie-breaker.
But they were in for tougher times in the second set and
lost their serve once. Bhupathi and Knowles also failed to
convert the only break point they earned as Kerr and Parrott
made it 1-1 before wrapping it up in the super tie-breaker.
Later, Bhupathi and Knowles fought back from a set down
but the effort couldn't win them the match as Aspelin and
Hanley held their nerve in the super tie-breaker to move into
the quarterfinals.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, November 12, 2009, 12:46