BEIJING, Aug 11: Defending men’s doubles champions Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu fell at the first hurdle on Monday at the Olympic Tennis Centre.

The unseeded Chileans were beaten 7-6, 6-4 by Russian team Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny.

Four years ago in Athens they became national heroes when they won the doubles event to earn Chile its first gold medal at an Olympic Games. Massu also won the singles there.

Massu and Gonzalez still have medal hopes here as they both survived their opening round singles matches. Massu beat Steve Darcis on Monday while Gonzalez beat China’s Sun Peng.—Reuters