MIAMI: India's Yuki Bhambri and his Kiwi partner Michael Venus made a first round exit from the Miami Open following a narrow loss to John-Patrick Smith and Sander Arends here.
Yuki and Venus went down 6-4, 5-7, 13-15 in a round of 32 contest to the Australian-Dutch combine in one hour 52 minutes.
There was little separating the two teams. Smith and Arends converted half of their four break points while Yuki and Venus were able to convert the couple of break points they earned in the match.
It was the first meeting between Arends and Smit, and, Yuki and Venus.
Yuki had reached the semifinals of the Indian Wells alongside Andre Goransson earlier this month.
The 33-year-old Indian had famously made the semifinals of the US Open last year with Venus.