The third seeded Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes [ Images ] and Martin Damm [ Images ] finished runners-up in the $1m Qatar Open following a shock 1-6, 6-7(3) loss to Russian Mikhail Youzhny and Serb Nenad Zimonjic in the doubles final.

The unseeded Russian-Serb duo, pairing for only the second time, proved too good for the third seeds, who failed to recover after a poor start.

Youzhny and Zimonjic served well and converted five of the nine break-points they got to emerge victorious in the final, which became competitive only in the second set, which was decided by the tie-breaker.

Paes and Damm were completely out of sorts and struggled to find their feet from the start as they surrendered the opening set quite meekly.

The reigning US Open [ Images ] champions were broken thrice as they went down 1-6 in a one-sided first set.

They, however, fought back in the second set but were matched shot for shot by Youzhny and Zimonjic.

The Russian-Serb duo saved four break-points before taking the match in the tie-breaker.

The victory gave Youzhny his second and Zimonjic his 14th doubles crown.

The Russian-Serb duo also claimed their first ATP title together and Zimonjic said he couldn't have asked for a better start to the new year.

''This is a great start to the new year. I am happy to have won with Misha. We just got better as the week went on,'' he said after the match.