History slipped out of the hands of Mahesh Bhupathiand Rohan Bopanna as the Indian pair lost the summit clash of the ATP WorldTour finale to Spanish pair of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez, here.
The fifth seeded Indian pair, making its debut as a pair atthe elite event, lost the title clash 5-7 6-3 3-10 to the sixth seeded combinein one hour and 30 minutes late Monday night.
No Indian pair has ever won the year-end finale althoughLeander Paes and Bhupathi reached the finals thrice together.
Now it's the fifth time that Bhupathi has ended runners-upat the event, where world's top-8 teams compete for the championship. With Paeshe ended runner-up in 1997, 1999 and 2000 and with Max Mirnyi in 2010.
Bhupathi and Bopanna had beaten Paes and his Czech partnerRadek Stepanek in the semifinals.
Bhupathi and Bopanna, thus, end the 2012 season and theirpartnership with two titles -- Dubai and the Paris Masters.
Bhupathi will partner Daniel Nestor in the next season whileBopanna is yet to confirm his teammate.
Granollers and Lopez became the second Spanish team to winthe season-ending championships. The only other Spanish duo to win thechampionship are Juan Gisbert Sr and Manuel Orantes in 1975 at Stockholm.
The Spaniards took a 2-1 lead in the first set, afterGranollers hit three successive forehands at Bopanna, who hit a backhand volleyinto the net on the deciding point.
However, Lopez was broken in the next game. At 5-5,Bhupathi misplaced two serves to trail 0-30. The 38-year-oldBhupathi made two further backhand volley errors, offGranollers forehands.
Serving for the set, Lopez faced sudden death deuce andbreak point, but Granollers intercepted a backhand volley toclinch the first set in 43 minutes.
Midway through the second set, at 3-4, the Indians set uptwo break point chances at 30-40. Lopez recouped one point,but on the deciding point Granollers committed a forehanderror.
Bopanna then closed out with the team's fifth ace of theset, which lasted 35 minutes.
Clever inter-play and defence by Granollers and Lopezgave them a 4-0 lead in the Match tie-break, in which Bhupathiand Bopanna could nor put in their volleys.
Soon the Spanish team was leading 9-3 and then wrapped upthe match when Bhupathi hit a forehand volley long.