Bhupathi crashes out of Kitzbuhel Open with first round defeat

New Delhi, July 27 (UNI) Lack of coordination between Mahesh Bhupathi and his new partner Chris Haggard came to the fore as the Indo-South African pair went down to wild card duo of Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany and Austrian Stefan Koubek in the first round of the Euro 646,250 Kitzbuhel Open in Austria.

Playing for the first time in the claycourt event, Bhupathi and Haggard were beaten 6-4, 3-6, 10-5 by their unheralded rival, according to information received here today.

After conceding the first set, Bhupathi and Haggard raised their game in the second and asserted their authority on their way to bag the set and force a decider.

The Kohlschreiber-Koubek pair, however, did not give up and put up a defiant fight as the see-saw set saw both the pairs matching each other shot for shot as it went down to the wire. In the tie-breaker, the Bhupathi-Haggard duo just failed to strike rhythm as their opponent walked away with the set and the match.

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