Leander Paes and Martin Damm bowed out of the Madrid Masters, losing in the first round of the doubles competition to Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.
The Indo-Czech Republic pair, which had won the US Open in September, were taken by surprise after winning the first set and beaten by the all-Polish combination 7-6 (3), 6-2, 12-10.
The victory boosted Fyrstenberg and Matkowski's chances of making it to the season-ending Masters Cup finale in Shanghai. They are currently eighth in the Stanford ATP Race and hoping to snatch one of two remaining berths.
At the start of the Madrid event, the Poles (395 points) held a slender 14 point lead over Simon Aspelin and Todd Perry (381), who are ninth in the Race.
Paes and Damn (617 points), who are No 5 in the ATP Doubles Race, have already qualified along with Bob and Mike Bryan, the top seeds in Madrid; Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi; Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett; three-time Madrid champions Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor.
Fyrstenberg and Matkowski take on the winners of the match between Tomas Berdych/Jarkko Nieminen and second seeds Jonas Bjorkman/Max Mirnyi.
More from rediff