Tennis: Marcus Daniell knocked out at Indian Wells

Marcus Daniell. Photo / Getty

New Zealand doubles player Marcus Daniell has been knocked out in the quarterfinals of the Indian Wells Masters by the greatest pair in the history of the sport.

Daniell and Argentine partner Diego Schwartzman have been beaten 7-5 6-1 by the seventh seeded Bryan twins Bob and Mike, who have won 16 Grand Slam titles together and 114 ATP titles as a team.

It capped an eventful day for Daniell who practiced with Roger Federer ahead of the 20 times Grand Slam champion's fourth round singles match on centre court.

Early on Daniell and Schwartzman - who is ranked 17 in singles - were far from overawed by their illustrious opponents who are chasing a third title in the Californian desert.

Daniell and Schwartzman broke their opponents serve in the third game and led 4-2 before the Americans got a look into the match which attracted a late night crowd of several thousand on one of the two show courts at Indian Wells.

But after Bob Bryan held serve for 3-4, things started to unravel for Daniell and Schwartzman. The Argentine was broken twice in the set as the Bryans displayed their class to take the first set 7-5.

Daniell dropped his serve for the first time in the second game of the second set and from there the Americans took control, breaking twice more to win it 6-1 and reach the semifinals in 65 minutes on court.

Daniell and Schwartzman will rue their failure to take break point chances, converting just 1 of 10 in the match while the Bryans won four of six break points.

Despite the loss Daniell's expected to improve a couple of places in the ATP rankings to match his career high ranking of 34 next week. Daniell will head to Miami for next week's Masters 1000 tournament there where he is hoping to team up with his regular partner Dominic Inglot. He was unable to get into the strong Indian Wells field with Inglot but expects to get direct acceptance into Miami at sign in this weekend.

Miami is where Daniell made his debut at Masters 1000 level last year. Daniell and Schwartzman will share $56,000 US dollars for their efforts in Indian Wells.