Mahesh Bhupathi's quest for a second successive ATP Pilot Pen doubles title ended in dejection, as the Indian veteran and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles went down in straight sets against Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa in New Haven.

The second-seeded Indo-Bahamian lost the final match 5-7, 2-6 to their fourth seeded rivals in one hour and 22-minutes. Bhupathi and Knowles double faulted seven times and were broken four times and could convert just one of the four break points that came their way.

In the first set, Melo and Sa opened up a 2-0 lead after breaking Bhupathi. But Sa was broken in the next game and both teams held serve throughout until the 12th game when Knowles double-faulted at a decisive point.

In the second set, the Brazilians went up 4-2 by breaking Bhupathi and then broke Knowles in the eighth game on the decisive point.

The Brazilians were coming off a second round exit at the Beijing Olympics and Sa said it took a while to adjust. "The time change was really tough, we were waking up at 5 am every day and we tried to stay up," said Sa.

The 34-year-old Bhupathi was looking to defend his New Haven title, having won last year with Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.