New Delhi: Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Martin Damn were ousted by their higher-rated opponents in straight sets in the semifinal of US$ 436,000 Medibank International Open ATP tournament in Sydney today.

The Indo-Czech pair suffered a 2-6 3-6 loss against the second seeded duo of Mark Knowels of Bahamas and Daniel Nestor of Canada to end their campaign in the season opener without a title.

Another Indian hope Mahesh Bhupati, who teamed up with Fabrice Santoro, had made an early exit in the tournament, held in the build up to the Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam beginning on Monday.

In the other semifinal, third seeds Paul Hanley of Australia and Kevin Ulyett of Zimbabwe entered the final by defeating Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, Poland 6-2 7-6 (7/4).