Mahesh Bhupathi and his Belgian partner Xavier Malisse crashed out in the first round of the men's doubles of the US Open on Wednesday.
Bhupathi-Malisse suffered a 4-6, 4-6 defeat at the hands of the Leos Friedl (Czech Republic) and Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) in New York.
The Indian has had a disappointing Grand Slam season this year losing in the opening round of Wimbledon and quarterfinals at Roland Garros. He and Alexander Waske were beaten by Leander Paes and Martin Damm 6-3 2-6 3-6 in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Bhupathi and Malisse wasted two break points in the first set and were also broken twice as the Czech-Russian pair got a foothold in the match and took the initiative to win the opener in 41 minutes.
Friedl and Youzhny also gave away little and the Indo-Belgian pair ended up conceding 10 break points.
However, their opponents managed to convert just two, which saw the second set being stretched to 56 minutes. But Bhupathi and Malisse had lost the plot by then as they failed to capitalise on any of the mistakes committed by their rivals to bow out of the event.
The sixth seeded Indo-Czech pair Leander Paes and Martin Damm will start its campaign against the Czech Petr Pala and Robin Vik on Thursday.
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