Monaco-Nadal Lose Thriller Against Germans

© Getty ImagesRafael Nadal and Juan Monaco reached the quarter-finals in Paris (Bercy) last year.

Juan Monaco and Rafael Nadal lost a thrilling first-round doubles match at the BNP Paribas Masters Tuesday as Philipp Kohlschreiber and Christopher Kas edged the Argentine-Spanish duo 4-6, 7-5, 15-13 to reach the second round of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Paris (Bercy).

Playing together for the first time since a quarter-final effort in Bercy last year, Nadal and Monaco held two match points at 10-9 and 12-11 in the Match Tie-break, but could not convert and their German opponents clinched victory on their fourth match point after one hour and 37 minutes.

Kas and Kohlschreiber, who teamed up to win the Gerry Weber Open title (d. Beck-Chiudinelli) in June, next will face sixth seeds Julian Knowle and Andy Ram for a quarter-final spot.

In another all-star first-round match-up, Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Tommy Robredo defeated South Americans Juan Martin del Potro and Fernando Gonzalez 7-6(2), 6-2 in 59 minutes. Granollers and Robredo captured the Brasil Open title (d. Arnold Ker-Monaco) in Costa do Sauipe in February and last week reached the final at the Valencia Open 500, losing out to Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak.

Bruno Soares and Kevin Ullyett kept alive their hopes of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals by saving all seven break points they faced to defeat Uruguayan-Austrian duo Pablo Cuevas and Oliver Marach 6-1, 7-6(6). Brazilian Soares and Ullyett of Zimbabwe are currently 10th in the year-to-date 2009 ATP Doubles Team Rankings, with the top eight teams qualifying for the season finale. They next will face fellow qualification contenders Cermak and Mertinak.

Fourth seeds Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes will face Jordan Kerr and Travis Parrott for a place in the quarter-finals, after the Australian-American duo knocked out Czech Martin Damm and Jonathan Erlich of Israel 6-3, 6-4. The victory marked Parrot's 100th tour-level match win.

Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer secured a place in the second round with a 6-3, 3-6 10-5 victory over French wild cards Sebastien Grosjean and Fabrice Santoro. The 36-year-old Santoro, a two-time Grand Slam doubles champion, was playing his final match on the ATP World Tour before retiring.