The third seeded Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Martin Damm 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 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.