Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek were routed 2-6, 0-6 by top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan as the Indian challenge ended at the ATP Monaco Masters.
Aiming to win their third French Open crown together, Indian veterans Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have been seeded third in the clay-court Grand Slam. They open their campaign against the German pair of Tommy Haas and Philipp Petzschner.
India got off to a worst possible start in their Asia Ocenia Group I Davis Cup tie losing both the singles matches against Uzbekistan who took a 2-0 lead in Namangan.
Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek fought their way to the semi-finals of the ATP Miami Masters with a 7-6(6), 6-4 win over Spaniards David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco.
The Indo-Serbian duo of third seeds Leander Paes and Janko Tipsarevic kept alive chances of a title showdown with the Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna after advancing to the semi-finals of the doubles event at the Aircel Chennai Open 2012 in Chennai on Friday.
As the Indian Express join forces after nine long years on the ATP circuit, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi will be hoping this reunion would help them prepare well and win Australian Open, the only Grand Slam trophy missing from their cupboard, says our correspondent Bikash Mohapatra
The 18-year-old Indian was beaten by China's Peng Sun in the semi-finals of the US$15,000 Uzbekistan Futures tennis tournament.
The out-of-action Sania Mirza moved up two places to 86 in singles but slipped a rung to 12th in the doubles WTA rankings even as Somdev Devvarman's standing remained unchanged in the men's singles ATP list, issued on Monday.
His recent success on the ITF circuit on Tuesday fetched teenage sensation Yuki Bhambri a place in the Indian Davis Cup squad for the crucial World Group play-off tie against South Africa scheduled September 18 to 20.
Sharan and Nys did not get any break-point in the 72-minute clash
Vishnu Vardhan made an impressive Davis Cup debut but lost the must-win first reverse singles of the play-off tie to Kei Nishikori in Tokyo on Sunday. The result relegated India to Asia/Oceania Zone Group I and catapulted Japan to World Group for the first time since 1985.
Davis Cup captain S P Misra says he did not expect India would be trailing 0-2 at the end of the opening day in their World Group play-off tie against Japan, on Friday. India's biggest hope Somdev Devvarman suffered a surprise straight-set defeat to Yuichi Sugita, and then Rohan Bopanna met the same fate at the hands of Kei Nishikori.
Thomaz Bellucci's forfeiture enabled India draw level (at 2-2) with Brazil in the Davis Cup world group play-off tie in Chennai on Sunday.
