Mirnyi/Nestor strain past Bopanna/Qureshi on day one – ATP World Tour Finals 2011
A strong start for the third seeded duo of Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada at the season ending grand finale, the Barclays ATP (Association of Tennis professionals) World Tour Finals, defeating the Indo-Pak Express
of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi in the opening Group B matchup in Round Robin on Sunday evening.
The contest was staged on the indoor hard courts of the prestigious O2 Arena in London, with Mirnyi and Nestor coming out as the winner after a stiff contest with the fifth seeded opponents. The third seed duo took one hour and
forty one minutes of play to bag the enthralling three-setter at 7-6(2), 4-6, 11-9, starting off their ATP World Tour Finals’ campaign in an assertive manner.
The contest remained evenly poised till the last minute of play, with both teams labouring extremely hard to take the better of one another. Bopanna and Qureshi fought valiantly in the opening set but a couple of silly mistakes
in the tie-breaker round caused them to fall 0-1 in the contest. The Indo-Pak Express pushed its accelerator in the second set to race past their opponents, making their way right back in the game. A nailing-biting super-tie breaker came into play and the
two sides keep exchanging assertive blows to extend the decider to a total of 20 points. A critical min-break from Mirnyi and Nestor proved to be the only differentiating factor in the game, bestowing victory upon them at 11-9.
The third seed duo is making its team debut at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals this year with a 43-19 winning record for the season. Both Mirnyi and Nestor have won the circuit ending mega event in the past, Mirnyi with Bjorkman
in 2006 and Nestor with Knowles in 2008 and then with Zimonjic last year as well.
Mirnyi and Nestor broke into the lead twice in the opening set, leading 2-0 early and then 4-2, but Bopanna and Qureshi brought them down on each occasion to remain on the even terms. The fifth seeded duo nailed just one break
point in the second set to become 1-1 in the contest, imposing a super tie-breaker round into play. Bopanna and Qureshi appeared in control at two times in the decider, first at 3-1 and then leading 6-3 later, but frittered away both advantages to let Mirnyi
and Nestor take the winning spot in the end.
Mirnyi and Nestor will take on the eighth seeded Pole duo of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in their next Round Robin match on Tuesday night.
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