Mahesh Bhupathi and his South African partner Kevin Anderson went down fighting in a thrilling three-setter match against the pair of Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil to crash out of Sony Open.
Bhupathi- Anderson lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-10 in the first round.
The two pairs refused to give an inch to each other but the Indo-South African pair lost the plot in the deciding set.
Peya-Soares combine was the better of the two pairs in the first set, winning two service breaks. Bhupathi and Anderson did the same once but lost the first set 4-6.
Bhupathi and Anderson fought their way back into the match by winning the lone service break of the second set, which they won 6-4.
In the decider, Peya and Soares served better and won more return points to run away 10-6 winners and wrap up the match.
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi defeated Italian duo of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-2 in the first round.
The third Indian in the men’s doubles, Leander Paes, and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek had also lost in the first round.
In the women’s tournament, Sania Mirza and her Zimbabwean partner Cara Black have advanced to the second round after defeating Taipei pair of Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan.
