Rediff

Paris, May 29: Fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles were knocked out of the French Open by the unheralded pair of Ross Hutchins and Stephen Huss in Paris on Thursday.

The Indo-Bahaman, third in this year's ATP doubles race, lost 4-6, 4-6 in the first round to Great Britain's Hutchins and Huss of Australia, ranked 87 and 90 respectively.

Leander Paes, however, provided some consolation for Indian fans, as he and Czech Lukas Dlouhy began their partnership on a winning note.

Paes-Dlouhy, seeded ninth, thumped French Open debutants Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana 6-2, 6-4. The duo showed no mercy to the Thai twins as they raced off to a 4-0 lead in the first set and never looked back from there.

Bhupathi-Knowles were caught in the cold by the young pairing of Huss and Hutchins. The duo staged a comeback late in the first set, when they got the break for 4-5, but were unable to hold serve and stretch the set into a tie-break.

They were broken again in the 10th game of the second set, which brought a premature end to their campaign.

Rohan Bopanna, the other Indian in the field, has teamed up with Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan. The unseed pair, which has been fairly successful in the lower tournaments, go up against top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan later on Thursday.