Leander Paes missed the chance to win his first doubles title of the season after losing the summit clash of the Gerry Weber Open along with Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy, in Halle on Sunday.
The fourth-seeded Indo-Czech pair lost the final match 6-3, 4-6, 3-10 to unseeded combine of Russian Mikhail Youzhny and Mischa Zverev of Germany.
Paes and Dlouhy made a good start, breaking their opponents twice to pocket the first set.
However, the Russian-German duo cashed in on the breakpoints in the second set to draw parity and stretched the matter to the super tie-breaker, in which they prevailed.
Paes will now team up with Mahesh Bhupathi for the Ordina Open, where they are seeded second. The duo, who are preparing for the forthcoming Beijing Olympics, will face the unseeded pair of Switzerland's Yves Allegro and Argentine Sebastian Prieto in the first round of the grass court event.