Montreal, Aug 17 - India's Mahesh Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles claimed their first title at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament and the fourth together, defeating Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Israeli Andy Ram in straight sets in the $3 million Rogers Cup final.
Bhupathi and Knowles, seeded third, won 6-4, 6-3, against the seventh seeds Sunday.
This is the Indian's fifth Canadian doubles title, four in Montreal and one in Toronto, while for Knowles the second after the first on his debut here with American Jim Courier 16 years ago, though the 37-year-old doubles exponent was runner-up in 1996 and 2002 along with his successful long-time Canadian partner Daniel Nestor.
Bhupathi and Kniowles now have a a 4-6 Tour record in doubles finals, Rogers Cup being their first title since they won at Basel in October after coming together last year. The duo will now split the winners cheque of $175,000 while the runners up will get $76,000.