Top seeded Leander Paes [Images] and Martin Damm were knocked out in the doubles quarterfinals of the Chennai Open on Thursday.

The unseeded pair of Petr Pala and Michal Mertinak came from a set down to beat Paes-Damm 3-6, 6-3, 10-6.

Czech Pala, in particular, covered the net brilliantly in the second set and the third-set tiebreak and made some piercing returns to set up the game.

The game, played under the new ATP doubles rules, again seemed to swing in favour of the team winning the second set. Pala and Mertinak, having nothing to lose, went for the big shots and came out trumps.

"In the first game the other guys (Ashley Fisher and Justin Gimelstob) played better but we ended up winning. This time, I though we played very well and had the rhythm going, but we didn't win," Paes said after the match.

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