Zeenews Bureau
Melbourne, Jan 31: The third seeded pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles fell at the final hurdle at the Australian Open as they went down to the second speed Bryan brothers of America in the doubles final 6-2, 5-7, 6-0 on Saturday.
Having started the match in high spirits by taking the first set 6-2 in less than half-an hour, the Indo-Bahamian conceded the hard fought second set. With the second set tied at 5-5, the American pair broke Bhupathi’s serve and then managed to hold their own against the second seeded Bryan brothers of America, conceded the second set 5-7.
The third set was a one-sided affair as the despirited Bhupathi-Knowles partnership went down 6-0 to lose the match.
Indo-Bahamian pair had, last year, failed to make it past the semi-finals.
This was the second time Bhupathi had reached the final of the Australian Open.
Last time he made the finals of the men's doubles at Australian Open was in 1999 with his estranged partner Leander Paes.
He will, however, have another shot at Grand Slam glory in the mixed doubles finals with Sania Mirza.
It's been a long time that Bhupathi won a men's doubles title at a Grand Slam event.
It was way back in 2002 that he annexed the title at the US Open with Max Mirnyi.
The long title drought viz-a-viz doubles, set to continue for now.
Bhupathi lost a chance to grab his fifth men's doubles Grand Slam title. He has 10 Grand Slam titles overall overall.
First Published: Saturday, January 31, 2009, 00:00