Mirnyi/Nestor battle past Llodra/Zimonjic to claim the doubles title – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2011
Rated at number three in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Doubles Rankings, the duo of Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada went through some real tough time before outplaying the second ranked pair of Michael Llodra of France
and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia in the final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Sunday.
The second seeded duo took just 70 minutes to conclude their emphatic victory at 3-6, 6-1, 12-10, to lift the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series 1000 trophy. Mirnyi and Nestor displayed their steely nerves to keep focused in the intense
pressure situations of the matchup and kept pocketing critical points to finally come out as the winner in the end.
The contest was staged on the outdoor hard courts of the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, China, with the Bulgarian-Canadian team registering its 35th victory of the running season. It was the third doubles title for Mirnyi and Nestor
in the current year and their victory levelled their head-to-head record to 2-2 against Llodra and Zimonjic.
Mirnyi and Nestor were off to a sloppy start to the contest, dropping the opener to fall on the back foot early. They made a tremendous recovery in the very next set, adopting a more aggressive strategy to simply blow away Llodra and Zimonjic from the set.
A super tie breaker was enforced in the contest, with both teams levelled at one set apiece. Mirnyi and Nestor faced some serious resistance from their third seeded opponents before sealing victory in the ultimate decider.
“Obviously winning such a close match, seesaw at the end, was nice to win,” said Nestor after winning the championship match. “Beating the team that’s probably been the best over the past few months, the most consistent; it’s nice to beat them in a very
tough, mentally gruelling match. Third set tie-break, it's just a matter of a couple lucky shots here and there. But fortunately we held our nerve and won in the end.”
Mirnyi and Nestor dropped merely five points on their first serve, clinching 27 out of 32 points, and nailed two out of three break points to come out as the winners. The combination of Llodra and Zimonjic played brilliantly in the matchup but it appeared
just a matter of time that they lost some crucial points in the game to finish on the losing side.
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