India's Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi crashed out of the men's doubles semi-final at the US Open Tennis Championships with a 2-6, 6-7(4) loss to the Polish pair of Marcin Matkowski and Maruisz Fyrstenberg.


Rohan Bopanna (left) with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi

The Indo-Pak Express, seeded fifth and finalists here last year, went down in an 82-minute battle Friday to the sixth-seeded Polish pair, who had defeated India's doubles exponents Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in the quarter-finals. With Bopanna's loss, India's challenge in the US Open is over.

It is the first Grand Slam final appearance for Matkowski and Fyrstenberg where they will be playing former Wimbledon champions Jurgen Melzer of Austria and Philipp Petzschner of Germany.