The seven-time major champions from California were hailed as the rock'n'roll boys of tennis as they headed to the Auckland tournament due to their musical prowess and crowd-pleasing antics.
But they were out-duelled by a combination who had never played together before -- a veteran Dutchman with a love for Auckland and an Argentinian relatively new to the ATP tour who had the element of surprise on his side.
Rogier Wassen is ranked 49 in world doubles but he has won the Auckland tournament twice before. Horacio Zeballos, however, has made great strides in the singles rankings via the Challenger Tour but is relatively unknown on the top tour, something the Bryan brothers think worked in their favour.
Wassen and Zeballos didn't know what side of the court each would be until yesterday. But they stayed aggressive, even after losing the first set, and took the game to the Bryan brothers.
It paid off with a second set victory and a surprisingly easy super-tiebreak win.
"I needed a new partner for this tournament because my usual partner Jeff Coetzee couldn't qualify on rankings for this," Wassen said.
"I saw Horacio play a little bit last year and thought 'this guy can play', and I hoped that if he ever needed a doubles partner to keep me in mind."
Bob Bryan said afterwards that the pair were embarrassed to have lost in the first round, and that "pretty much everything" about their game was off.
They will now look to head to Melbourne to prepare for the Australian Open, meaning their much-anticipated performance at the post-tournament party is off.
Even though the doubles contest has another multiple grand slam winning pair still playing -- Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes -- they don't have the star power of the Bryan brothers, and the tournament focus will return to singles today.
Two experienced French friends each made their mark on the tournament with first-round wins yesterday. Arnaud Clement won in two sets over his higher-ranked compatriot Jeremy Chardy, and Sebastien Grosjean, who is on the comeback trail, defeated Florian Mayer of Germany in three sets.
The bespectacled Clement will provide an interesting opponent for second seed David Ferrer today, while Grosjean faces sixth seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer.
Popular 2008 champion Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany got safely into the second round. He easily accounted for Inigo Cerventes-Huegun, a late entry into the tournament as a lucky loser after former world No 3 three David Nalbandian withdrew due to an abdominal injury.
Another crowd favourite to make it through was American John Isner, who came from a set down to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain. His huge serve could prove a handful for seventh seed Juan Monaco of Argentina, an easy winner over Zeballos yesterday.
New Zealander Rubin Statham also had his second round opponent confirmed today. He will play Albert Montanes of Spain after Montanes beat Australian qualifier James Lemke in straight sets.
Today also sees the first matches for the top four singles seeds, all Spaniards -- Ferrer, Tommy Robredo, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Nicolas Almagro.
Singles, first round:
Arnaud Clement (France) bt Jeremy Chardy (France) 7-5 6-4
Sebastien Grosjean (France) bt Florian Mayer (Germany) 6-3 3-6 6-3
5-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) bt Inigo Cervantes-Huegun (Spain) 6-2 6-3
Marc Gicquel (France) bt Olivier Rochus (Belgium) 6-3 6-2
John Isner (United States) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 4-6 7-6(3) 6-2
Simon Greul (Germany) bt Paolo Lorenzi (Italy) 6-3 6-3
Michael Lammer (Switzerland) bt Daniel Evans (Great Britain) 1-6 6-2 6-4
8-Albert Montanes (Spain) bt James Lemke (Australia) 6-1 7-5
7-Juan Monaco (Argentina) bt Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) 6-3 6-0
Doubles, first round:
Rogier Wassen (Netherlands)/Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) bt 1-Bob Bryan (United States)/Mike Bryan (United States) 4-6 6-4 10-6
2-Lukas Dlouhy (Czech Republic)/Leander Paes (India) bt Jaroslav Levinsky (Czech Republic)/Travis Parrott (United States) 7-5 6-4
Marcelo Melo (Brazil)/Bruno Soares (Brazil) bt Jurgen Melzer (Austria)/Philipp Petzschner (Germany) 6-2 6-3
Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil)/Andre Sa (Brazil) bt 4-Julian Knowle (Austria)/Robert Lindstedt (Sweden) 6-3 6-4
Lucas Arnold Ker (Argentina)/Juan Monaco (Argentina) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain)/Albert Montanes (Spain) 6-3 6-4
3-Marcel Granollers (Spain)/Tommy Robredo (Spain) bt Martin Damm (Czech Republic)/Filip Polasek (Slovakia) 2-6 6-1 10-3
