Mahesh Bhupathi and his Belarus partner Max Mirnyi lost out on the chance of performing the rare feat of a hat-trick of titles in as many weeks after conceding a walk-over in the Barcelona Open without hitting a ball.
The US Open doubles champions were on an eight-match winning streak, after winning the Estoril and Monte Carlo Open crowns, but were forced them to pull out of the Spanish tournament, where they were top seeds, as Miryni suddenly took ill.
Bhupathi, who returned to Bangalore immediately, said they were forced to withdraw as Miryni was running high fever. He, however, informed that they will be back at the Hamburg Open in a couple of weeks' time.
"We had a first-round bye and would have played our first match on Wednesday or Thursday. But since Max developed high fever on Tuesday we had to withdraw," Bhupathi said, adding there was no time to find another partner.