Paes-Begemann lose Winston-Salem Open final

Indian tennis ace Leander Paes and his German partner Andre Begemann were beaten 6-4, 6-7(6), 8-10 by Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Finland's Henri Kontinen in the final of the Winston-Salem Open tennis tournament.

The match was closely contested but Garcia-Lopez and Kontinen eventually prevailed over the unseeded Indo-German pair here on Saturday.

In the first set, Paes and Begemann played some attacking shots to force the Spain-Finnish pair to surrender the first set.

The second set saw Garcia-Lopez and Kontinen bounce back with some good counter-attacking play. The second set tie-breaker was initially dominated by Paes-Begemann but they eventually ran out of steam.

That proved to be the turning point of the match as the momentum swung against them.

In the match tie-break, the first-time pairing of Garcia-Lopez and Kontinen held onto their nerves to claim their first tennis World Tour doubles title.

"So close today but some of Life's lessons are learnt through hardships!! Good week making the Finals, thanks partner," Paes wrote on Twitter after the match.

--IANS

gau/sam/dg