Bhupathi-Mirnyi go down to Bjorkman-Woodbridge

For the second year in succession, Indian doubles ace Mahesh Bhupathi had the opening match blues at the Tennis Masters Cup. Having lost to Gaston Etlis/Martin Rodrigues last year, Saturday saw the Banglore-based player — teaming yp with Max Mirnyi — go down 3-6, 2-6 to Jonas Bjorkman and Tood Woodbridge at Houston.

Boasting of three titles, two runners-up positions and five semi-final appearences at the meet, Bjorkman/Woodbridge, who missed out on a semi-final slot last year shared top spot in the Blue Group along with the Bryan twins after the Round-1 matches.

While Bhupathi talked of being ‘‘outplayed’’, speaking to The Indian Express after the game, he explained that ‘‘since the season shifted from indoors to outdoors it was a question of who adapted well. They did it faster than us and that’s that.’’