The Indians, whose insistence to play together sparked off aselection storm ahead of the Games, bowed out of the competitions in the secondround itself as the French duo of Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet scripteda comfortable 6-3 6-4 victory to break a million hearts.
Under a heavy and overcast sky, Bhupathi and Bopanna, who weretouted as serious medal contenders, never really showed great chemistry norflair as they succumbed to the French pair in a battle, which lasted for onehour and 17 minutes.
It was a dismal end to the campaign of the seasonedcombination as they paid a heavy price for a barrage of unforced errors, whicheventually allowed the spirited Frenchmen to tilt the balance in their favour.
Bhupathi and Bopanna committed as many as 37 unforced errors,many of them at crucial junctures, to make a hash of things.
The Indian pair never got into any rhythm as they concededthe first set 3-6 in 39 minutes and then frittered away a 3-0 lead to go down4-6 in the second set, which lasted 38 minutes.
The Indians were broken in the fourth game of the first setand could not really stage a comeback as the Frenchmen piled on the pressurewith good court movement and placements.
In the second set, the Indians showed signs of recovering asthey started off well to race to a 3-0 lead but could not maintain the tempo astheir opponents wriggled out of the tight situation to ultimately clinch theset.
Bhupathi and Bopanna on Monday held their nerve to edge outMax Mirnyi and Alexander Bury with a hard-fought 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 8-6scoreline in a tussle which lasted two hours and 26 minutes in the first round.
