Bopanna-James knocked out

Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna and his American partner James Cerretani crashed out of the $ 2,615,000 Cincinnati Masters tournament after suffering a straight sets defeat in the first round.

The Indo-American partner lost 6-7 (5), 2-6 to Simon Aspelin of Sweden and Jamie Murray of Great Britain, in one hour and seven minutes, on Monday.

Meanwhile, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have got first round byes along with their respective partners in the seventh of the nine Masters Series tournament.

Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy have been seeded sixth while Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of Bahamas are seeded fourth in the event.

The Indo-Czech pair will open its campaign against the winners of the first round match between Ivo Karlovic and Rogier Wassen and Fernando Gonzalez and Janko Tipsarevic.

Bhupathi and Knowles will face Czech pair Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek, who beat Spaniards Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 7-6 (6) in the opening round.

Unlike the last Masters Series tournament in Toronto, the estranged Indians will not meet before the summit clash of the hard court event as they are pitted in different halves of the draw.