Japan fell 2-1 behind in its Davis Cup World Group first-round tie against Canada on Saturday after Go Soeda and Yasutaka Uchiyama tasted a five-set defeat in the doubles.
Soeda and Uchiyama put up a fight but were beaten 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 by Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil, the world No. 5- and No. 15-ranked doubles players.
"We had good spells in the match and never felt the gap between us and the Canadian pair was as big as the rankings suggest," said Uchiyama.