Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships: Paes-Cerretani pair lose to Rojer-Tecau pair in men's doubles finals

India’s seasoned tennis campaigner Veteran Leander Paes did not have a memorable outing in his 97th ATP tour final as he lost in the grand finale of the men's doubles event at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championship.

The tournament is a USD 2.6 million ATP 500 event. Paes and his American partner Jamie Cerretani lost to Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania 2-6 6-7 (2-7) in 87 minutes in the summit clash.

For Rojer-Tecau pair, this was their 17th ATP title as a pair. The 44-year-old legendary Indian, who is currently ranked 52nd in the world, had a good tournament until the finals.

In his 28th season on pro-circuit, Leander is now only three finals short of achieving a century of summit clashes on the tour.

It was Leander-Cerretani pair's second serve, which let them down. While Tecau-Rojer had a success rate of 76 percent, the Indo-US pair stood at mere 42 percent.

Also they could only convert one break point and that too in the second set which they stretched to the tie-breaker while the winners got three breaks in first set.