It was disappointment at the Nungambakkam Stadium on Monday as Indian fans witnessed Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh making an opening round exit at the Chennai Open.
The Asian Games gold medalists failed to make the most of the wildcard awarded to them by losing 7-5, 2-6, 8-10 to the Dutch-American combine of Robin Hasse and David Martin.
Egged on by a vociferous and palpably partisan crowd, the Somdev-Sanam combine were always in the match. However, they failed to close it out.
Their exit makes things easier for the Indo-Pak Express, also in the same half of the draw. The second seeds Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi are now firm favourites to face top seeds Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in what remains an eagerly anticipated men's doubles final.