Bhambri-Haase pair loses in Australian Open men's doubles first round

Melbourne: India's Yuki Bhambri and his Dutch partner Robin Haase squandered three match points in the deciding set to go down against Nicolas Barrientos of Colombia and Rafael Matos of Brazil in the Australian Open men's doubles first round here on Tuesday.

The unseeded Indo-Dutch pair lost 6-1 6-7 (8-10) 6-7 (7-10) in the opening round match that lasted two hours and 26 minutes.

After Bhambri and Haase won the first set, their opponents made a comeback into the match by taking the second set in tie-break.

Bhambri and Haase then had three match points after they were 5-4 up in the deciding set but they wasted all of them. The deciding set also went to the tie break which Barrientos and Matos won.

The 31-year-old Bhambri from New Delhi had made it to the Australian Open third round in 2014 when he partnered Michael Venus of New Zealand and that was his best performance in a Grand Slam doubles event.

Last year, Bhambri had won his maiden ATP title at the Mallorca Championships doubles competition, partnering South African Lloyd Harris.

Bhambri and Haase had lost in the semifinals of the Brisbane International ATP Tour tournament earlier this month.