New Zealander Artem Sitak is out of the Australian Open men's doubles, after losing his third round match on Sunday afternoon.
Sitak and German partner Benjamin Becker were beaten 6-2 6-4 by the French duo of Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in 67 minutes.
It was always going to be a extremely tough task. The European duo are the second seeds at this tournament and the reigning French Open champions, regarded as the one of the best combinations in the world.
Sitak and Becker struggled on their service games for much of the match, broken twice in the first set and once in the second set. They couldn't capitalise on a number of break chances of their own, especially in the second set when Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin saved five break points.
Still, Sitak will look back with satisfaction on reaching the third round in just the second grand slam tournament of his career and will receive a solid boost in his doubles ranking, currently at 66.
