30 September,2010 03:10 PM IST | | Agencies
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi suffered a rare defeat together as they made a shock first-round exit from Thailand Open, the only ATP tournament they played together ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
The top seeds, who came to this tournament after a record 24th consecutive win in the Davis Cup, lost 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 4-10 to unseeded Germany's Daniel Brands and Croatia's Ivan Dodig in the first round of the USD 551,000 hard court event.
Having won gold medals at the last two editions of the Asian Games, Paes and Bhupathi will be the hot favourite pair when tennis makes its debut at the Commonwealth Games.
The tennis event will begin on October 4 and conclude on October 10. Paes and Bhupathi play with different partners on the ATP circuit but have always joined forces to represent the country in multi-discipline sporting event.
They have recorded many a memorable wins in Davis Cup and Grand Slams but an Olympic medal has always eluded them.
