Roland Garros Champs Dlouhy/Paes Falter In Opener

© Getty ImagesMardy Fish & James Blake

Roland Garros champions Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes crashed out in their first-round doubles match Thursday at Wimbledon, falling to Americans James Blake and Mardy Fish 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.

Dlouhy and Paes, the No. 3 duo in the 2009 ATP Doubles Team Rankings, managed to convert just three of their 19 break points, while their opponents made good on half of their 12 chances to close out the match in one hour and 49 minutes.

It marked Dlouhy and Paes's earliest Grand Slam exit since making their team debut with a third-round showing last season at Roland Garros. In addition to their win at the clay-court major last month, their Grand Slam results from the past year included a runner-up finish at the US Open (l. to Bryan-Bryan) and semi-final efforts at Wimbledon and the 2009 Australian Open.

Blake and Fish are teaming up for just the second time in Grand Slam doubles action, and reached the quarter-finals four years ago at the Australian Open in their one previous outing. They next face Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Marc Gicquel, who advanced with a 6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(3) win over Stefan Koubek and Dudi Sela.

Their countrymen, Robert Kendrick and Sam Querrey, set up a second-round clash with No. 2 seeds and defending champions Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic after defeating Austrians Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Kendrick and Querrey are making their team’s fourth main draw appearance, with their best result a quarter-final showing at the 2007 US Open on their partnership debut.

Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer also earned a tough second-round match-up with top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan after rallying to a 6-7(4), 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-4 win over the British duo of Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski.

Meanwhile, in second round action, No. 12 seeds Jeff Coetzee and Jordan Kerr fell in five sets to Rogier Wassen and Igor Zelenay 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 9-7. Wassen and Zelenay joined forces for the first time last month in Belgrade, where they reached the semi-finals.