Leander Paes' Australian Open campaign came to a tame end, as he lost in the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles at the Rod Laver Arena on Thursday.

Canada's Daniel Nestor and Russia's Elena Likhovtseva upset third seeds Paes and Samantha Stosur 7-6, 6-1.

Paes-Stosur were serving for the set at 5-4 in the first, but squandered the opportunity as their opponents stretched the set into a tie-break before taking it 7-4.

The Indo-Australian pair then faltered miserably on serve, dishing four double faults and getting in only 40 per cent of the first serves in. They also failed to convert any of the four break points and dropped three service games.

Nestor and Likhovtseva garnered their experience to overtake the faltering third seeds in the second set, winning it 6-1 in 34 minutes.