India’s doubles pair of Leander Paes and Saketh Myneni lost to Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4 in their Davis Cup World Group Playoff match in Delhi on Saturday.

The Spanish team benched Feliciano Lopez, allowing Nadal to play the doubles encounter after he missed his singles match owing to a stomach bug. Spain took an early 3-1 lead in the first set after Paes’s serve was broken in the fourth game. However, India broke back to trail Spain 3-4 on serve. Paes served out the next game 4-4 to tie the first set. However, the Indian duo then broke Nadal’s serve to take a 5-4 lead. Myneni served out the first set to take it 6-4.

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The second set began with the Spanish team looking in complete disarray and the Indians looking to capitalise on their stellar performance in the first set. India took an early lead after they broke Lopez’s serve in the second game. India looked set to bag the second set, but were broken when Myneni was looking to make it 6-4. Spain fought back to take it to a tie-breaker and won the second set 7-6(2), and it was game on.

The third set began with the Spaniards breaking Paes's serve to take a 3-1 lead. The Indians tried their best to break back but were unable to do so, eventually losing the third set with Nadal serving it out to take it 6-4. However, Nadal's serve was broken immediately in the fourth set to give the Indians a 2-0 lead. Myneni held his serve to make it 3-0, but the Spaniards fought their way back, breaking Myneni in his next service game to make it 4-4. Sensing victory, the Spanish pair broke Paes's serve to make it 5-4. In came Nadal to serve for the match and he didn't disappoint.

With the win, Spain took an unassailable lead of 3-0 to enter the World Group. India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan lost to Feliciano Lopez on Friday, before Saketh Myneni was beaten by David Ferrer in the singles on the opening day of the competition.