Bhupathi-Knowles crash out of Madrid Masters

Madrid:

Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles made a shock second round exit from the euro 3,700,000 ATP Madrid Masters event after losing in straight sets to Stephen Huss and Ross Hutchins.

The fourth seeded Indo-Bahamian pair, who got a bye in the first round, lost their pre-quarterfinal encounter 4-6 5-7 to the Australian-Briton duo in one hour and 22 minutes.

Bhupathi and Knowles could convert just one of the four breakpoints in the match while their rivals converted three of the four chances to move to the next level.

With this defeat Indian challenge ended in the men's doubles event as Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy have withdrawm from the contest due to fitness problems of the latter.