A second successive French Open doubles title eluded Leander Paes as the Indian ace and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy lost the final to Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in straight set here today.
In line for a second successive title, the defending champions ran out of steam and lost 5-7 2-6 to their second seeded opponents Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia in a 65-minute contest at Roland Garros in Paris .
The third seeded Indo-Czech duo failed to convert the two breakpoints that came their way in comparison to their rivals who converted three of the four breakpoints that they earned.
"It has been a great two weeks and I'm happy to be in the finals for the second successive time. I would like to thank Lukas for making it happen and sticking with me," said Paes, who won the title in 1999 and 2001 (both with Mahesh Bhupathi) and then with Dlouhy in 2009. Dlouhy, on his part, credited the opponents for playing terrific tennis and said hopefully next year they would regain the title.
"They were just too good today. Hopefully me and Leander will play some more tournament in the future and regain the title next year," Dlouhy said. Paes already has six men's doubles and five mixed doubles Grand Slam crowns in his pocket, same as his estranged partner Bhupathi.
Paes and Dlouhy, who put up an impressive performance coming into the final, earned a breakpoint as early as in the second game after five deuces but couldn't convert it.
Locked 5-5, Nestor-Zimonjic finally broke the Indo-Czech pair in the 11th game and held their serve in the next to wrap up the first set 7-5 in 40 minutes.
With momentum going their way, the Canadian-Serbian duo quickly earned two more breakpoints in the first game of the second set and even though Paes and Dlouhy saved one, they were eventually broken as Nestor-Zimonjic lead 1-0. Lagging 1-2, Paes-Dlouhy earned another breakpoint in the third game but failed to covert it yet again.
To make things worse, Dlouhy double faulted and gave away three breakpoints which the Canadian-Serbian pair converted without much ado as they surged ahead 4-1.
The Indo-Czech narrowed the gap to 2-5 but it was too late too little as Nestor-Zimonjic held their serves to eventually wrap up the second set 6-2 in 25 minutes and pocket the match and the title comfortably. PTI
