Third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi [Images] and Martin Damm of Czech were knocked out in the first round exit by the unseeded Jurgen Melzer and Julian Knowle of Austria in the million-dollar St Petersburg [Images] Open.

The Indo-Czech pair got off to flying start by winning the first set, but were beaten 6-3, 3-6, 6-7(7).

Bhupathi and Damm were caught napping after the first set by the Austrians, who levelled the match by taking the second set with a reverse scoreline.

The decider proved to be a cliffhanger and both sides matched each other shot for shot and error for error to stretch it to tie-breaker.

The experienced Indo-Czech pair, which has bailed itself out of such occasions on umpteen times in the past, failed this time and lost nerves at crucial moments to lose the set and the match.

Bhupathi and Damm have been struggling with their form for quite sometime. They lost to Leander Paes [Images] and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic in the second round of Madrid Masters last week.

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