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LONDON: India's Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Mark Knowles went through on Thursday to the last four of the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals without a perfect record after losing their final group match.
Third seeds Bhupathi and his Bahamian doubles partner lost 6-4, 7-6 (11/9) to top seeds Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia at London's O2 Arena in their Group A match.
Bhupathi and Knowles had already qualified for the semi-finals of the season-ending tournament having won their first two games but missed out on the chance to send a message of invincibility to their potential last four opponents.
Meanwhile in Group B, Bhupathi's compatriot and former doubles partner Leander Paes, playing with the Czech Republic's Lukas Dlouhy, are out of the picture having lost the first two of their three round-robin matches.
The French and US Open champions face Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram in their final match on Friday.
"It was a bit of a rough outing in the last two matches," Paes said.
"It's a bit interesting because we won two Grand Slams this year, then the last two days we've been pretty much off rhythm.
"Could put it down to many reasons. But it's something we need to look at, go back to the drawing board.
"Once we make it here next year, hopefully we do, and we work hard enough to get here next year, we need to come a little more prepared."
The staging of the doubles games just before the singles clashes has been deemed to be a success for the competition, with up to 17,500 people watching the matches.
Paes said the pair would have no problem motivating themselves for their final group game.
"You're on the court. You're entertaining people. You're out there with pride to do the best that you can," the Kolkata doubles master said.
"Also remember that a lot of people are paying top dollar to buy their tickets to come in here. It's live on television. We have a big responsibility as professional athletes, top eight doubles teams in the world."
Motivation was never a problem but "I wish we could find some rhythm, though," he added. - AFP/de
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