Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic end partnership in style
Canadian Daniel Nestor and Serb Nenad Zimonjic may want to reconsider parting ways as doubles partners after winning the ATP World Tour Finals doubles title at London’s O2 arena on Sunday. Nestor and Zimonjic defeated India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi
of Belarus 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 to close out 2010 and also a 3.5 year partnership.
Nestor and Zimonjic began playing together in 2007 but decided to split as a team this past October. The pair finished 2010 with seven championships including the French Open. They also won back-to-back Wimbledon titles in 2008 and 2009 and two (year-end)
Masters.
"We finished great, it's a great partnership," said Nestor, owner of 71 career doubles titles. "We won three Slams, two (year-end) Masters, a lot of individual Masters 1000 tournaments throughout the years, a lot of tournaments.
"We had a pretty good record in finals, too -- it's the most successful partnership I've had. I did very well with Mark Knowles, but that was more spread out over years. This is three years of winning a lot, very solid play. Obviously, too bad that we're
not continuing. But at the same time, you know, we had a great run."
Nestor will now join forces with Mirnyi in 2011, while Zimonjic will be playing alongside Frenchman Michael Llorda.
After a very competitive first set that was decided by a tiebreaker, Nestor and Zimonjic were finally able to take control of the match midway through the second set. With the score tied 3-3, they were able to get their first and only break of the match
by breaking Bhupati’s serve to take a 4-3 lead. Nestor was then able to hold serve at love to open up a 5-3 advantage. Mirnyi then held his serve to make it 5-4 before Zimonjic was able to serve out the match for the victory in just over 80 minutes. Nestor
and Zimonjic were able to save two break points during the match and also had six aces en route to victory.
"We overcame a really hot team, a team playing really well," said Nestor. "There were a lot of tough points there in the first set, and even in the second. We played well on those big points. We both served well when we had to.
"It's nice to beat a team when they're playing at the top of their game. Two teams that are confident coming into a good match, it's good tennis. It's nice to be able to win a match like that."
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