Paes-Melzer crash out of French Open

Leander Paes crashed out of the men's doubles, while Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna made first round exits from the mixed doubles to sum up a disappointing day for India at the French Open.

India's campaign came to an end in the men's doubles when Paes and his Austrian partner Jurgen Melzer crashed out in the second round.

Seeded ninth, Paes and Melzer fought hard before going down 7-5, 4-6, 6-7(6) to unseeded Uruguan-Argentine duo of Pablo Cuevas and Horacio Zeballos in little less than two-and-a-half hours at the Roland Garros.

The other Indians in the men's doubles, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, who were seeded fourth, had already lost in the opening round to the Polish pair of Tomasz Bednarek and Jerzy Janowicz.

To add salt to Indian tennis fans' woes, Bhupathi and his Australian partner Casey Dellacqua suffered a shocking first round defeat in the mixed doubles at the hands of Anastasia Rodionova of Australia and Mexico's Santiago Gonzalez.

The seventh seeded Indo-Australian pair lost 4-6, 6-1, 9-11.

If that was not enough, Rohan Bopanna and Australia's Ashleigh Barty were also shown the door in the opening round.

Bopanna-Barty lost 4-6, 4-6 to the Czech pair of Lucie Hradecka and Frantisek Cermak.

Photograph:  Clive Brunskill/Getty Images