China Open: Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna crashes out in first round

Beijing: Indian doubles specialists Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna bowed out of the China Open tennis tournament here on Monday getting beaten in their respective men`s double first round matches.

Bopanna and his Canadian partner Daniel Nestor were beaten by Spanish duo Rafael Nadal and Pablo Carreno 6-7, 4-6 while Paes and Germany`s Andre Begemann lost to American-Australian duo of Jack Sock and Bernard Tomic 6-3, 5-7, 7-10.

In a contest, which lasted around one hour 30 minutes, the Indo-Canadian pair of Bopanna-Nestor started off the proceedings on a positive note. But their Spanish opponents proved superior at decisive phases of the contest.

The first set was evenly contested with both teams winning their service games. But the Indo-Canadian pair surrendered serve thrice in the tie breaker to relinquish the first set.

In the second set, Bopanna and Nestor got a break up in the first game but were quickly broken back to leave the set square at 1-1.

The two teams then matched stroke for stroke but Bopanna-Nestor lost their grip at the most crucial stage of the match, losing their serve, while down 4-5 to lose the second set in 34 minutes.

Nadal and Carreno will now face the Chinese pair of Mao-Xin Gong and Ze Zhang, who defeated America`s Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey 3-6, 6-3, 10-4.

In other match, Paes and Begemann gave a spirited display but ultimately accepted defeat after an hour and 27 minutes.