Paes-Stepanek pair loses in final of Japan Open

Tokyo: Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek faltered at the final hurdle as they suffered an upset straight-set defeat at the hands of Alexander Peya of Austria and Brazil`s Bruno Soares to finish runners-up at the ATP Japan Open here on Sunday.

The fourth seeded Austrian-Brazilian pair defeated top seeds Paes and Stepanek 6-3, 7-6 (5) in an hour and 46 minutes in the USD 1,280,565 hard court event to win their second ATP World Tour doubles titles in as many weeks. Peya and Soares added the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships trophy to their Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur trophy. But Paes and Stepanek have clinched their first team berth at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London next week, after they booked a place in the Tokyo final. The Indo-Czech combo has also earned 300 doubles rankings points. They dropped to a 26-9 match record in the season, which includes two titles. PTI