A successive French Open doubles title eluded Leander Paes as the Indian ace and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy lost the final to Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in straight sets at Roland Garros, on Saturday.

The defending champions ran out of steam and lost 5-7, 2-6 to their second-seeded opponents, Nestor of Canada and Serbian Zimonjic, in a 65-minute contest.

The third-seeded Indo-Czech duo failed to convert the two breakpoints that came their way in comparison to their rivals who converted three of the four breakpoints that they earned.

“It has been a great two weeks and I’m happy to be in the final for the second successive time. I would like to thank Lukas for making it happen and sticking with me,” said Paes, who won here in 1999 and 2001 (with Mahesh Bhupathi) and then with Dlouhy in 2009.

Paes thanked all the fans who came to support them and also to his daughter and her schoolmates who were rooting for them back home in Mumbai.

Dlouhy, on his part, credited the opponents for playing terrific tennis and said hopefully next year they would regain the title.

“They (Nestor and Zimonjic) were just too good. Hopefully Leander and I will play some more tournaments in the future and regain the title next year,” Dlouhy said.

Paes already has 11 Grand Slam crowns in his pocket — six men’s doubles and five mixed doubles — the same number as Bhupathi.

Paes and Dlouhy, who put up an impressive performance coming into the final, earned a breakpoint as early as in the second game after five deuces but couldn’t convert the opportunity.

Locked 5-5, Nestor-Zimonjic finally broke the Indo-Czech pair in the 11th game and held their serve in the next to wrap up the first set 7-5 in 40 minutes.

With momentum going their way, the Canadian-Serbian duo quickly earned two more breakpoints in the first game of the second set and even though Paes and Dlouhy saved one, they were eventually broken as Nestor-Zimonjic led 1-0.

Trailing 1-2, the third seeds earned another breakpoint in the third game but failed to covert it yet again.

To make things worse, Dlouhy double faulted and gave away three breakpoints which the Canadian-Serbian pair converted without much ado as they surged ahead 4-1.

The Indo-Czech pair narrowed the gap to 2-5 but it was too late. The second seeds held their serve to eventually wrap up the second set 6-2 in 25 minutes on their third championship point.

This was their third Slam together after Wimbledon in 2008 and 2009.