THE CANADIAN PRESS
LONDON -- The only Grand Slam title missing from Daniel Nestor's resume is within reach.
The Toronto native and Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic reached the final at Wimbledon on Friday with a 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-1, 4-6, 8-6 victory over Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes.
Nestor won the three other majors with previous partner Mark Knowles and can add the fourth on Saturday with a win over Sewde Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe.
"The sweep is in the back of your mind, but it's not the best thing to think about right now," said Nestor. "There's a match at hand.
"We have to go out there and execute the best we can, deal with whatever situation comes up."
Nestor and Zimonjic did get something of a break with Bjorkman and Ullyett upsetting the top-ranked Bryan brothers in the other semifinal.
But they know better than to take an opponent lightly, especially after their recent loss to Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna in the final at the French Open.
"I'm very excited, it's a great opportunity and maybe a better draw than playing the Bryans," said Nestor. "But Bjorkman's team is really hot and on top of their game. They're playing really well and are at their best.
"We have to be ready for a fight, be ready to a long match and take advantage of every opportunity we get."
Zimonjic showed little sign of the left wrist injury Friday that had left him sprawled on the court the previous evening. With the wrist taped, the Serb returned to action on Friday with his game and fitness intact.
But Nestor said his partner was still playing in pain.
"The wrist was pretty scary, it's a good thing it happened on his opposite hand or we would not have been playing this semifinal," said Nestor. "It's another good thing that he's a one hander and doesn't really have to use his left. He's going through some pain on ball toss.
"But Nenad's a tough guy and it came out well today."
The final set stayed with serve until Nestor and Zimonjic broke Paes for a 7-6 lead and the Canadian consolidated the victory. The winners fired 19 aces and broke on three of 12 occasions while losing their own serves twice.
Nestor served out the dramatic win after three hours 16 minutes to earn a berth in his eighth Grand Slam final.
The 35-year-old last played for the Wimbledon title in 2002 alongside Knowles. Those two won the 2002 Australian Open, 2004 U.S. Open and 2007 French Open.
Nestor and Zimonjic have been on a roll this spring, winning 21 of 23 matches and reaching five straight finals overall.
They tuned up for Wimbledon by winning the Queen's event -- the third trophy for Nestor at the venue -- following their Hamburg title success on clay in May. They lost finals in Rome and on cement at Indian Wells.
"Everything happened so fast, we weren't playing well for months and in the last six weeks we've started playing very well," said Nestor. "We're riding the wave, we're now on our way.
"We know what to expect from each other, which is the most important thing -- we're jelling."
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