Indian tennis aces Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi lost to Croatia’s Mario Ancic and Austria’s Jurgen Melzer in straight sets in the finals of the Ordina Open held at Hertogenbosch on Saturday, June 21, 2008. It took a little more than an hour for the Indian pair to go down 6-7 (5), 3-6. Both Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, who had been bickering incessantly, put aside their differences in the run-up to the Olympics. As they had joined forces, this three-time Grand Slam winning doubles duo, despite the defeat, will be happy with their impressive performance.

The Indian team was 4-1 up in the first set after obtaining a break in the second game. Only they proved unsuccessful in pressing home the advantage. Ancic and Melzer broke back in the seventh game and took the set to tie-break. Prior going down, India’s Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi managed nicely to save one point in tie-break. It was during the second set that the Indian team lacked the adequate spirit as Ancic and Melzer broke them in the fourth game to conquer the title.