Paes and Bhupathi out of Rome Masters

NEW DELHI: India's challenge ended in the Rome Masters tennis tournament as both Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, playing with their respective partners, failed to qualify for the quarterfinals of the doubles event.

Both the pairs lost in similar fashion, squandering a set lead before going down to their less-fancied opponents in second round super-tiebreaker encounters.

While fourth seed Bhupathi-Knowles duo was stunned by unseeded Spanish pair of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco 6-7(4), 6-4, 10-7, Paes and Hanley, seeded eight, went down to Polish combine Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 Thursday night.

It was a shock defeat for Bhupathi and Knowles considering the duo had competed in four finals in their last five tournaments this season.