Monday, June 16, 2008

Kings at Queen's: Nestor, Zimonjic win

Kings at Queen's: Nestor, Zimonjic win
THE CANADIAN PRESS

LONDON, England -- Canada's Daniel Nestor and Serb Nenad Zimonjic won their second title of the season a week after a painful Grand Slam finals loss, defeating Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) on Sunday at the Queen's club event.

Nestor and Zimonjic, the second seeds who were beaten seven days ago on clay at the French Open final by unseeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay and Luis Horna of Peru, improved to 2-3 in 2008 finals after lifting the grass trophy.

The pair who got together after the U.S. Open last season, also won Hamburg in May. The title was the 52nd in doubles for Nestor.

"What a difference a few weeks makes," said a satisfied Nestor. "A month ago we couldn't win a match and now we've been to four finals and taken two titles.

"We played great today and really found our form on grass. This is a great relief a week after Paris as well."

"We are both feeling good on the court and looking forward to going to Wimbledon and doing well. This win was exactly what we needed to gain confidence," Nestor added.

Nestor, 35, from Toronto, and Serbian Zimonjic, have been on a roll this spring, competing in their fourth straight final. In their last three clay events, they played the Rome final before the title in Hamburg and tough loss in Paris.

Last March, they reached the final at Indian Wells. Nestor claimed his third career title at Queen's after 2003 and 2007 alongside Mark Knowles, while Zimonjic came in good in his first Queen's final.

Melo and Sa were playing in their first ATP grass final, after winning on clay in 2008 at Costa do Sauipe in February and Poertschach last month.

Nestor and Zimonjic took the opening set in west London with a break for 5-4 before Zimonjic served out a love game to sweep it.

In the second, the Canadian's side played level until a tiebreaker, when Zimonjic dominated at the end with solid net play.

The Serb poached for a winner which brought up four match points. The Brazilians saved the first but Zimonjic again came through to finalize the victory with a winning overhead after 78 minutes.

Nestor and his partner had only one ace and four double-faults, breaking once per set to wrap up the trophy. The pair will train next week in the Wimbledon run-up.





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