By IANS
Miami (Florida) : India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of Bahamas failed to capture their third Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) doubles title this season, losing in straight sets to top seeds Bryan brothers, Mike and Bob, of the US in the $3.7 million Sony Ericsson Open tournament finals here.
The Bryan brothers took just 53 minutes to defend their title, thrashing the fourth seed India-Bahamas pair 6-2, 6-2 Saturday night. With this, the Americans registered their first ATP title of the season.
“This was one of the best matches we played in a long time. I think the last time we played to our potential was in the fall against Mark Knowles in Basel which we won 6-1, 6-1,” said Mike.
In the first set, the Bryans brothers broke Knowles’ serve twice — in the fourth and eighth games. However, in the following set, it was Bhupathi who was broken twice in identical fashion.
Bhupathi and Knowles came into the Miami final registering 14 wins out of their last 15 matches, which includes back-to-back titles in Memphis and Dubai without dropping a set.