Bhupathi-Bopanna, Paes-Stepanek crash out of Madrid Masters

The Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna crashed out of the ATP Madrid Masters after losing their semifinal match to Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Horia Tecau of Romania in Madrid.

The Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna crashed out of the ATP Madrid Masters after losing their semifinal match to Robert Lindstedt of Sweden and Horia Tecau of Romania in Madrid.

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The seventh seeded Indian duo fought hard before losing 4-6 6-1 7-10 in an hour and 16 minutes.

After losing the first set 4-6, Bhupathi and Bopanna fought their way back into the match, clinching the second comfortably, 6-1.

Both the teams, however, refused to spare an inch in the deciding Super Tie-breaker, where the Swedish-Romanian combo managed to keep its nerves to run away with the match.

Earlier, fifth seeded Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek lost to second seeds Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor 3-6 7-6 2-10 in the quarterfinal.

Paes and Stepanek managed to stretch their higher-ranked opponents before going down in a battle that lasted an hour and 29 minutes.