Paes-Damm knocked out of Open

Defending champions Leander Paes and Martin Damm were knocked out of the US Open while Mahesh Bhupathi and Nenad Zimonjic followed their New Haven triumph with an easy first round victory on Thursday.

• Images: Sania in third round

Fourth seeds Paes-Damm went down 7-6 (1), 3-6, 4-6 to Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut in the opening round.

Meanwhile, Paes' former partner and 10-times Grand Slam champion Mahesh Bhupathi continued a successful summer after starting the year on a low.

Bhupathi-Zimonjic, who won the Pilot Pen tennis Championship last week, disposed the Russian pair of Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov 6-3, 7-5.

The Indo-Serbian duo will face Sam Querrey and Robert Kendrick of America in the second round.

• US Open 2007: Complete Coverage