BARCELONA, Spain — Canadian Daniel Nestor and new partner Robert Lindstedt of Sweden missed a chance at their first title together on Sunday, losing 5-7, 7-6(7), 10-4 to Austria’s Alexander Peya and Brazil’s Bruno Soares in the doubles final of the Barcelona Open.
The 40-year-old from Toronto and his teammate had to play two matches on the day. They won an interrupted semifinal from the day before 4-6, 7-6(6), 10-3 (match tiebreak) over the Spanish pair of David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco.
Hours later they played Peya and Soares in a match that took one hour 44 minutes.
"It was a tough day today for us, we got close but not enough," said Nestor. "This was a tough week but we still have matches before the French Open. Those guys were too good on the important points."
Nestor last played a final in October at Basel when he teamed with former partner Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia on a one-off basis. He is a four-time Barcelona champion, winning the clay title in 2009 and 2010 with Zimonjic as well as in 2005 and 2006 with Mark Knowles of the Bahamas.
In Sunday’s final, Nestor and Lindstedt struck three costly double-faults and went into defensive mode to save 10 of the 13 break points they faced. They broke their opponents only once from five opportunities.
In the earlier semifinal, Nestor’s team trailed a set and stood 2-2 in the second overnight when the match was abandoned Saturday due to rain.
Nestor’s team won the second set in a tiebreak and ran out to eight match points in the tiebreak third set now a part of doubles. They advanced on their third winning opportunity.
The pair are playing their second event together after Monte Carlo last week, where they lost to Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and Bernard Tomic in the quarter-finals.
Nestor owns 80 career doubles titles from 131 finals. He has won at least won doubles title per year since winning his first at Bogota in 1994 and owns eight grand slam titles.