India's doubles specialist Leander Paes and his partner Brazilian Andre Sa were knocked out of the men's doubles of the Australian Open tennis tournament in the first round after losing to Belarus' Max MiRnyi and Philippines' Treat Huey 6-4 6-7(3) 4-6 today.
The pair accepted defeat to the 10th seeds after an intense 2 hour 13 minute fight on Court 15.
Another India team, Purav Raja and Divij Sharan, also made first round exit the men’s doubles event.
Paes-Sa started brightly, breaking in the fifth game of the first set to take a 3-2 lead. They protected that lead to claim the first set 6-4.
Both sides then held on to their serves in the second set, forcing a tie-break. But Paes-Sa lost their serve thrice in the tie-break to surrender the second set. It turned the momentum of the contest away from Paes-Sa.
Mirnyi-Huey then snatched the initiative, grabbing a break in the seventh game of the decisive third set.
They maintained their advantage, winning the third set 6-4.
Paes' Australian Open campaign will continue in mixed doubles, where he will partner Martina Hingis against Australia's Destanee Aiava and Marc Polmans on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Raja and Sharan, who ended runners-up at season-opener Chennai Open, fought their hearts out before suffering a narrow 6-7(9) 6-7(4) defeat against the French team of Jonathan Eysseric and Fabrice Martin.
Rohan Bopanna is now the only Indian left in the men’s doubles. Along with Uruguyay’s Pablo Cuevas, he is up against local team of Alex Bolt and Bradley Mousley in the second round.
