Bopanna, Amritraj advance

In doubles, Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj are now India's only hope as Paes and Damm disappointed.

Rohan Bopanna and new found partner Prakash Amritraj remained the only hope for India as the top seeded combine of Leander Paes and Martin Damm bit the dust, losing to unseeded Michal Mertinak and Petr Pala in a quarterfinal match in the Chennai Open on Thursday night.

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Bopanna, whose loss to fifth seeded Gilles Muller (Lux) ended India's challenge in singles earlier tonight, made amends in the company of Amritraj, moving into the quarterfinals with a 6-3 6-3 upset win over third seeded Yves Allegro (Sui) and Michael Kohlmann (Germany).

However, there was some disappointment as the much hyped pair of Paes and Damm lost in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-10. Perhaps, they lost mainly because of the 'unsuitable' new scoring format. Incidentally, they became only the second top seeds to lose in a first or second round in the 11-year history of the tournament.

In 1998, Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde lost to Arnau Clement and Jerome Golmard in a three-setter.

Later, Paes and Damm, at the post-match press conference said they played well, but only missed on some big points, particularly in the match tie break.

They reiterated that the new rule changes for doubles favoured upstarts and said the changes have to be evaluated.