BASEL, Switzerland — Canada’s Vasek Pospisil partnered with Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic to win the doubles title on Sunday at the Swiss Indoors.
First-time combination Pospisil and Zimonjic, a 38-year-old Serb veteran whose second partnership with Toronto’s Daniel Nestor was ended recently, defeated Finn Henri Kontinen and Marin Draganja of Croatia 7-6 (13), 1-6, 10-5 for the trophy.
Pospisil, form Vancouver, added the indoor crown to two more titles this season with American Jack Sock. That pair will resume their partnerships next week in Paris as they fight for a qualifying place in the World Tour Finals in London next month.
Pospisil owns titles in 2014 with Sock from Wimbledon and Atlanta. The pair were beaten in the finals in Cincinnati and Beijing.
"Nenad and I knew we could both play well together, we found out we clicked," Pospisil said. "We play well together and have great energy.
"We both serve well also. This was a great week for us."
The second seeds needed an hour to win a marathon first set, saving five set points and finally taking the opener on a fourth set point of their own.
The second set flew by in 18 minutes as Kontinen and Draganja levelled to send the contest into a tiebreak.
"When you have such a close first set with a long tiebreaker, the next set is always tougher," Pospisil said. "We had a bit of a letdown but at the same time they relaxed after losing the first set.
"They played some great return games and we went down fast in the second set."
Pospisil and Zimonjic dominated the tiebreak for their first win as a team.
"We didn’t panic, at one set all it was a fresh match for us," Pospisil said.
"We had a tough draw, tough competition. But we managed to get through this week. It’s always difficult when you play for the first time with someone.
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"I’m not that surprised at how we did this week. I had a good partner and I’ve been playing good doubles the last few months. We knew we could be a tough team and that proved to be true."
Zimonjic was making his fifth finals appearance in his last five visits to Basel. He and Nestor won the title in 2009 and 2012.