Leander Paes and Andre Begemann were beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Mikhail Elgin and Denis Istomin in the doubles final of the $125,000 Challenger tennis tournament here on Friday.
It was the fourth loss in a Challenger final this season for the 43-year-old Paes, who has 54 doubles titles on the men’s professional circuit, including eight in the Grand Slams.
The results:$125,000 Challenger men, Tashkent: Final: Mikhail Elgin (Rus) & Denis Istomin (Uzb) bt Andre Begemann (Ger) & Leander Paes 6-4, 6-2.
$50,000 Challenger, Ho Chi Minh City: Quarterfinals: Christopher Rungkat (Ina) & Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Andre Arnaboldi (Ita) & Peter Gojowczyk (Ger) 6-1, 6-3.
$25,000 ITF men, Lagos: Semifinals: Gianni Mina (Fra) bt Sasi Kumar Mukund bt Gianni Mina (Fra) 7-6(1), 5-7, 7-6(4).
$25,000 ITF men, Houston: Pre-quarterfinals: Yuki Bhambri bt Gonzales Austin (US) 6-0, 7-6(5).
$25,000 ITF women, Lagos: Semifinals: Valentini Grammatikopoulou (Gre) & Prarthana Thombare bt Fatma Alnabhani (Oma) & Valeriya Strakhova (Ukr) 6-1, 6-3.
$10,000 ITF women, Jakarta: Semifinals: Beatrice Gumulya & Jessy Rompies (Ina) bt Emily Appleton (GBR) & Rishika Sunkara 6-2, 6-7(5), [10-3]; Pei-Ju Chen (Tpe) & Tomoko Dokei (Jpn) bt Kattlyn Christian (US) & Kanika Vaidya 3-6, 6-4, [13-11]. — Sports Bureau
