Bhupathi-Anderson knocked out of Sony Open

Miami, March 23 (IANS): India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and his South African partner Kevin Anderson suffered a first-round exit from the men’s doubles event of Sony Open Tennis here.

Bhupathi and Anderson went down 4-6, 6-4, 6-10 to the second-seeded pair of Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil in the first round here Saturday.

The Indo-South African pair did well in the first set winning two service breaks but failed to clinch it. They, however, came back well in the second, winning it 6-4, to stretch the tie into the deciding third set.

In the decider, Bhupathi and Anderson struggled against Peya and Soares’s serves. The second-seeded pair won more return points to win 10-6 and seal the match.

India’s Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek also suffered a first-round loss while Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi have eased into the second round.

Bopanna and Quereshi, seeded seventh, won 6-3, 6-2 against the Italian duo of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-2 in the first round.