After Bhupathi's fall, Paes follows estranged partner

New Delhi, Mar 16 (UNI) After Mahesh Bhupathi's exit, his estranged partner Leander Paes also crashed out of the men's doubles event after a shocking second round defeat to the unseeded Russian pair of Igor Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko at the 2.1 million Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells.

Fifth seeds Paes and his Czech partner Martin Damm seemed well in control as they dropped just one game to win the first set before the Russians hit back. Uncowered by their rivals' stature, The Andreev-Davydenko duo clawed their way back to the game and won the set 6-3 to force the decider.

The third set was a see-saw battle between the pairs who had fluctuating fortunes as they went on stretching the contest.

Eventually it was the Russians who had the last laugh as they walked away with a marathon 1-6, 6-3, 10-8 victory to move into the next round.

Earlier, Mahesh Bhupathi and his South African comrade-in-arms Wesley Moody had made an early exit after putting up a gritty show against the top seeded Americans, Bob and Mike Bryan, according to information received here today.

The Indo-African duo began emphatically, winning the first set