Bangkok: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi suffered a rare defeat together as they made a shock first-round exit from the Thailand Open, their only ATP tournament together ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
The top seeds, who came into this tournament after a record 24th consecutive win in the Davis Cup, lost 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 4-10 to unseeded Germany’s Daniel Brands and Croatia’s Ivan Dodig in the first round of the $551,000 hard court event.
Having won gold medals at the last two editions of the Asian Games, Paes and Bhupathi will be the favorite when tennis makes its debut at the Commonwealth Games.
