Dubai:
Second seeds Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy faltered at the final hurdle and went down in straight sets in the men's doubles summit clash to finish runners-up in the Dubai Tennis Championships here.
The Swede-Australian pair of Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley defeated Dlouhy and Paes 6-2 6-3 in just 57 minutes, much to the disappointment of Dubai's large Indian population.
"(We) didn't play our best tennis today. I felt that we got off to a bad start again. The last three days I've started off really poor. I lost my first service game today, yesterday and the previous day," admitted Paes.
"Today, (we) just lost to a better team. They played solid. They're good doubles players, so they read the game of doubles well. They cover the spots well. Today we didn't get enough balls on court. We didn't get enough returns in court (and) didn't get enough volleys on court," he added.
Paes and Dlouhy had no answers for the terrific forehand returns from Aspelin and from 30/40 in the third game, the unseeded pair won four of the next five games, dropping just three points on serve, to clinch the first set in 26 minutes.
Dlouhy led 40/15 in the fifth game of the 31-minute second set, but he hit three successive double faults as Hanley and Aspelin raced to a 4-2 lead.
Two games later, Dlouhy handed victory to Aspelin and Hanley with his eighth double fault of the match.
"It's always disappointing, because if you are in the final you want to win the title. But today it was a very bad match from our side. We are happy to be in the final, and hopefully next time we can do better," said Dlouhy.
Aspelin and Hanley shared USD 113,450 in prize money and earned 500 ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings points. Dlouhy and Paes split USD 53,320 and 300 rankings points.
The Swede-Australian pair of Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley defeated Dlouhy and Paes 6-2 6-3 in just 57 minutes, much to the disappointment of Dubai's large Indian population.
"(We) didn't play our best tennis today. I felt that we got off to a bad start again. The last three days I've started off really poor. I lost my first service game today, yesterday and the previous day," admitted Paes.
"Today, (we) just lost to a better team. They played solid. They're good doubles players, so they read the game of doubles well. They cover the spots well. Today we didn't get enough balls on court. We didn't get enough returns in court (and) didn't get enough volleys on court," he added.
Paes and Dlouhy had no answers for the terrific forehand returns from Aspelin and from 30/40 in the third game, the unseeded pair won four of the next five games, dropping just three points on serve, to clinch the first set in 26 minutes.
Dlouhy led 40/15 in the fifth game of the 31-minute second set, but he hit three successive double faults as Hanley and Aspelin raced to a 4-2 lead.
Two games later, Dlouhy handed victory to Aspelin and Hanley with his eighth double fault of the match.
"It's always disappointing, because if you are in the final you want to win the title. But today it was a very bad match from our side. We are happy to be in the final, and hopefully next time we can do better," said Dlouhy.
Aspelin and Hanley shared USD 113,450 in prize money and earned 500 ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings points. Dlouhy and Paes split USD 53,320 and 300 rankings points.
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