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Leander Paes-Purav Raja crash out of Australian Open men’s doubles
Leander Paes-Purav Raja suffered a 1-6,2-6 loss to Juan Cabal and Robert Farah in the men’s doubles tournament at the Australian Open.
Veteran Indian doubles legend Leander Paes and Purav Raja have crashed out of the Australian Open after losing to Juan Cabal and Robert Farah in Men’s Double third round.
The unseeded Indians were beaten 1-6 2-6 by their 11th seeded opponents in a contest that lasted one hour and nine minutes at the Melbourne Park here.
Paes and Raja failed to capitalise on any one of the five break points -- two in the first set and three in the second -- they got in the match while the Cabal-Farah duo converted four out the 10 they had.
The Colombian duo broke the Indians twice in both the sets to easily grab the match and make it to the quarterfinals.
The Indian pair had shocked the formidable fifth seeds Bruno Soares and Jamie Murray in the second round but their game were not up to the mark.
Paes and Raja, who won two Challenger level titles to close the 2017 season, were playing in their second Grand Slam together.
At the 2017 US Open, they fell in the second round.
Paes has not featured in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event for more than a year. The last time 44-year-old Paes played a quarterfinal at a Grand Slam was in 2016 at French Open where he and Marcin Matkowski had lost to Mike and Bob Bryan.
