Paes lost 7-5 6-1 to Martin Damm of Czech Republic while Bhupathi, who received a wild card, went down 6-1 6-3 to sixth seed Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden.

Paes, who won his maiden ATP singles title at Hall of Fame, Newport a couple of months back, gave a tough fight to Damm in the first set losing 7-5. But the Indian Davis Cup player failed to maintain the same form and lost the second set easily 6-1.

The Indian duo, however, reached the second round of the doubles tournament, beating Mark Keil and TJ Middleton of United States 7-6 (7/4) 6-4 in the first round yesterday.

The world No 3 pair, who are defending their title here, have come into the tournament after winning the Shanghai Open doubles title on Sunday.

The second seeds will play the pair of Thomas Ketola of Finland and Laurence Tieleman of Italy inthe second round.