THE fine run of Dustin Brown and Austrian partner Martin Slanar came to a crushing end in the doubles finals of the Gemax Open in Belgrade, Serbia yesterday.

The unseeded Jamaican Brown and Slanar were outplayed, losing in straight sets 3-6, 3-6 to the Serbian-British combination of Ilija Bozoljac and Jamie Delgado.

Brown and Slanar were gracious in defeat despite playing below expectations.

“They were much better. The result speaks for itself. Bozoljac has been playing great this week, he’s full of confidence. We played the best we could, and they did not give us any opportunity to threaten them,” said Brown, ranked 245th in doubles and 131st in singles.

“We missed some easy balls, and we lacked luck and concentration,” added Slanar, who is ranked 268th in doubles.

The champions were also unseeded, but with Delgado being a specialist doubles player, ranked 114th in the world, the pair had the better odds going into the finals.

And it quickly showed as Bozoljac (387th in doubles) and Delgado broke their opponents in the fourth game of the first set on Slanar’s serve for a 3-1 lead, which they managed to hold and take the set.

Brown was then twice broken on his serve in the second set in games five and nine, and just like the first set, there was no chance of coming back.

For their efforts though, all four players will move up the rankings with the champions gaining 125 points, while Brown and Slanar each accumulate 75 points for making the finals.

Brown, the highest ranked Jamaican player in history, now turns his attention to the United States where he’ll try to qualify for the main draw at the Indian Wells, which begins in a couple of weeks.