Leander Paes and his Czech partner Martin Damm squandered early advantage as they bowed out of the Rogers Cup, losing 6-3, 3-6, 4-10 (tie-break) to the Australian-Zimbabwean pair of Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett in the semi-finals.
The Indo-Czech pair, which made an excellent start by running away with the first set, but lost the momentum midway and crashed out of the of the 2.45 million dollar event.
Paes and Damm held serve in the first set as they broke their rivals once to take the initiative.
However, things went horribly wrong for them after the fine start. The Indo-Czech pair was broken in the second and they wasted two break points against Hanley and Ullyett, who made a dramatic comeback.
The Indo-Czech duo failed to recover from the shock and lost the third set tie-breaker tamely.
Hanley and Ullyett will meet the Bryan twins, Mike and Bob in the final.
Six double faults proved costly as Toronto native Nestor and Bahamian partner Mark Knowles lost to the top-ranked American duo 6-3, 6-7(6), 10-5 tie-break.
