By SHAVAUGHN MOSS

NG Sports Reporter

Bahamian tennis ace Mark Knowles and his Canadian doubles partner Daniel Nestor were ousted from the Adidas International on the first day of competition.

The men's doubles team, seeded third, lost first round to the unseeded team of Argentina's Agustin Calleri and Italy's Filippo Volandri in two tough sets, 5-7, 5-7 in Sydney, Australia yesterday in the US $380,000 tournament which got underway yesterday and plays through Saturday.

The early exit comes on the heels of Knowles and Nestor's quarter-final exit from last week's Qatar Open, 1-6, 5-7 to the Czech Republic's team of Martin Damm and Cyril Suk.

A tournament, which last year, Knowles and Nestor finished in the runners-up position in Doha, Qatar.

Although Knowles and Nestor did not get the results they wanted, the tournaments were basically warm ups and a means for the duo to get themselves acclimated in preparation for the Australian Open January 19, February 1 in Melbourne, Australia, where they hope to do well.

The 2002 men's doubles champions, lost to Frenchmen Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro in three sets in last year's final.

Knowles and Nestor are one of the world's top doubles team. They finished 2003 at No. 3 in ATP team race standings with six titles won in eight appearance finals. Knowles finished the year ranked eighth individually in doubles competition.

The duo's final results were realized after they compiled a 56-17 match record, and was the only team to win titles on all four surfaces (carpet, clay, grass, hard) during the year.

Last year, Knowles and Nestor's impressive showings included winning the indoor title in Memphis, in February. The following week on clay, they captured the title in Acapulco, then took the crown in Houston and the Tennis Masters Series Hamburg.

In June, they won the grass title at Queen's, and followed with a quarter-final showing at Wimbledon.

During the summer, they reached semi-finals at Tennis Masters Series Cincinnati and the US Open.

The duo also won the indoor title in Basel without dropping a set, and closed the season with a semi-final showing at the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston.

Caption: Mark Knowles

Posted: Tuesday January 13, 2004