Bhupathi-Knowles pair go down to Spaniards in finals

Monte Carlo, Apr 28 (UNI) India's Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Mark Knowles of Bahamas were handed a straight sets mauling at the hands of Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo to finish runners-up in the Monte Carlo Masters' doubles here.

Bhupathi, who was suffering with a groin injury, could not combine well enough with his Bahamian partner as they went down 3-6, 3-6 to the Spanish pair.

Nadal now has become only the second player in ATP Masters history to have won both the singles and the doubles' event after he defeated Roger Federer to lift the singles title at the clay court.

Nadal and Robredo exploited the injury hit Bhupathi's limitations to good effect and when the Indian received treatment at 3-3 in the second set, the Spaniards' job became easier.

Had the Bhupathi-Knowles pair managed to achieve a victory here, they would have risen to the top in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race.

But the loss here meant that the two will now sit just two points behind Race leaders Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram, the Israeli pair which won the Australian Open earlier this year.

The Bhupathi-Knowles pair has now competed in four finals in their last five tournaments.

UNI XC RAR CS HT1255