Paes suffers early exit

Leander Paes' new year and new partnership – with Australian Paul Hanley – began on a sour when they were beaten by Benjamin Becker and Oliver Marach in the opening round of the Next Generation Adelaide International in Adelaide on Wednesday.

The German-Austrian combine, who made in to the Adelaide draw only when Mario Ancic and Radek Stepanek pulled out, upset the top-seeded pair 7-6(0), 7-5 in a match that lasted one hour and 41 minutes.

Paes, who ended his successful partnership with Czech Martin Damm at the end of last season, has teamed up with the Aussie for the 2008 season though there are talks of a reunion with Mahesh Bhupathi keeping in the mind the Beijing Olympics.