Veteran Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek were stunningly knocked out of the Australian Open after going down in straight sets in their opening-round match of the men’s doubles event here on Thursday.
The second-seeded Indo-Czech pair lost 3-6, 5-7 to South African Kevin Anderson and Israeli Jonathan Erlich in 89 minutes.
The South African-Israeli combo not only relied on the serve to outplay Paes and Stepanek, but also managed to convert four out of seven breakpoints they got.
In contrast, the Indo-Czech duo was just not up to the mark, either while returning the serve or converting their breakpoints.
After losing the opening set miserably, Paes and Stepanek though put up a better show in the second, but they failed to sustain and eventually lost both the set and the match.
{{/usCountry}}After losing the opening set miserably, Paes and Stepanek though put up a better show in the second, but they failed to sustain and eventually lost both the set and the match.
{{/usCountry}}However, the Australian Open campaign is not yet over for Paes as he will be playing the mixed doubles with Russian partner Elena Vesnina.
They will be facing Pakistan’s Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden in the first round.