Bhupathi crashes out of Sony Open

Mahesh Bhupathi and his South African partner Kevin Anderson went down fighting in a thrilling three-setter men's doubles match against the pair of Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil to crash out of Sony Open tennis tournament here.

The unseeded Indo-South African pair lost to their second seeded opponents 4-6 6-4 6-10 in a gruelling one hour and 28 minute first round contest of the hard court event.

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 remained the only Indian in men's doubles after he and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan won their second round match against Italian duo of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6-3 6-2 in a 55-minute first round match.

The seventh seeded 'Indo-Pak Express' duo play the Colombian pair of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the second 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, being held simultaneously, Sania Mirza and her Zimbabwean partner Cara Black, seeded fifth in the tournament, have advanced to the second round after defeating Taipei pair of Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan.