Indian tennis ace Leander Paes and his German partner Andre Begemann were beaten 6-4, 6-7(6), 8-10 by Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Finland's Henri Kontinen in the final of the Winston-Salem Open tennis tournament.
The match was closely contested but Garcia-Lopez and Kontinen eventually prevailed over the unseeded Indo-German pair here on Saturday.
In the first set, Paes and Begemann played some attacking shots to force the Spain-Finnish pair to surrender the first set.
The second set saw Garcia-Lopez and Kontinen bounce back with some good counter-attacking play. The second set tie-breaker was initially dominated by Paes-Begemann but they eventually ran out of steam.
That proved to be the turning point of the match as the momentum swung against them.
In the match tie-break, the first-time pairing of Garcia-Lopez and Kontinen held onto their nerves to claim their first tennis World Tour doubles title.
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"So close today but some of Life's lessons are learnt through hardships!! Good week making the Finals, thanks partner," Paes wrote on Twitter after the match.
--IANS
gau/sam/dg