Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic close out tight win
Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic are making the most of their last tournament together. The second seeds secured their place in the semi-finals of the Barclays
ATP World Tour Finals in London, with a tight straight-sets victory over Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi 7-6(5), 7-6(1), which lasted 93 minutes, on Wednesday November 24.
Neither team was able to gain a significant advantage over the other. Each team had only one break point opportunity, which neither was able to convert. However,
Nestor and Zimonjic were able to play their best tennis on key points in the two tiebreaks, taking the first tiebreak at 7-5, while dictating play in the second set tiebreak to win it at 7-1, and wrap up the match.
Nestor and Zimonjic, who won the tournament in 2008 when they also finished the year as the number one team, are avenging their disappointing 2009 result when they
went 1-2 their round-robin, failing to make it to the semi-finals, and subsequently finished the year as the number two team, ranked behind Bob and Mike Bryan.
Nestor and Zimonjic decided to part ways earlier this year, with Nestor set to partner with Mirnyi starting in January, and Zimonjic set to pair up with the Frenchman
Michael Llodra. Nestor and Zimonjic had inconsistent results this season, winning Roland Garros, while losing in the second round at Wimbledon, and failing to win a tournament after Roland Garros for five months. Nevertheless, their time as doubles partners
has been fruitful, producing three grand slam titles.
Bhupathi and Mirnyi finished their 2010 season with a victory at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, which marked their first title together since May 2004. Their
strong 2010 campaign is further highlighted by their runner-up finishes in three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments (Cincinnati, Monte Carlo, and Miami) and at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Valencia, Spain. Should they win their match on Friday
November 26, they will earn their birth in the semi-finals at the year-end tournament in London.
Nestor and Zimonjic are set to face off against Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach, who have been eliminated in the tournament, on Friday November 26. While, the remaining
semi-final berth for Group B will be granted to the winner of the match between the tandem of Bhupathi and Mirnyi and the pairing of d**k Norman and Wesley Moodie. Norman and Moodie were impressive in their straight set routing of Kubot and Marach earlier
in the day, and will be looking to earn their place in the semi-finals.
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