Indian tennis ace Leander Paes’ much touted partnership with Spanish great Rafael Nadal did not deliver the expected result as they suffered a shock men’s doubles first round loss, that too in straight sets, at the Paris Masters in Paris.
Experienced British-Swedish pairing of Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt took just an hour and three minutes to beat Paes and Nadal 6-3, 6-4 at the Palais Omnisports on Tuesday.
Though Paes and Nadal got a break of serve in the opening set, they were themselves broken twice by Inglot and Lindstedt which was enough to seal the set for the latter pair.
The second set was another straight one for the winning pair who broke Paes and Nadal once — enough to bag the set and match and enter the second round.
An important factor that turned the match in favour of Inglot and Lindstedt was the number of aces (9) fired down the throat of Nadal and Paes, who in turn could not conjure up even a single one.
Indo-Romanian eighth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea will take on the Colombian pairing of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the second round of the $ 3.5 million tournament on Wednesday after receiving a first round bye.