Top-seeded Bryans knocked out of Australian Open

The world’s top-ranked doubles pair, Bob and Mike Bryan, suffered their earliest Australian Open exit in more than a decade on Monday when they lost 7-6(9) 6-4 to American Eric Butorac and South Africa’s Raven Klaasen in the third round.

The American twins, who have won the title six times, led 4-0 in the first-set tiebreak before being overhauled and were then broken once in the second set.

“It’s frustrating, we like coming down here and starting the year hot,” Mike Bryan told reporters.

“I don’t think we played terribly, just the margins are really small. We’re a front-running team and (if we won the tiebreak) we probably win that in straight sets but all credit goes to those guys, they served tough.”

The last time the twins exited Melbourne so early was in 2003, again in the third round.

“I think it’s the first time we’ve lost in straight sets since June 2012,” said Bob Bryan.