THE CANADIAN PRESS
LONDON — Canadian Daniel Nestor and Belarusian partner Max Mirnyi locked up a semifinal berth at the ATP World Tour Finals on Tuesday with a 6-4, 6-3 win over the Polish duo of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.
It was the second straight victory for Nestor and Mirnyi at the season-ending competition. The third-seeded team opened with a win over India’s Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan’s Asian-Ul-Haq Qureshi.
Nestor and Mirnyi, who became the first team to reach the final four, needed 74 minutes to complete the victory.
"It’s really unbelievable to already be in the semifinals," said Nestor. "Max and I have been lifting our game all during the autumn and it’s starting to pay off now. Those guys play tough and are not easy opponents. We need to stay sharp if we want to go further than the semis."
Nestor, 39, won the London title a year ago with Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia. Zimonjic and new partner Michael Llodra will take on Nestor and Mirnyi in the final group match Thursday.
"There is always something to work on in our game and we want to keep up this momentum," Nestor said. "Nenad and Llodra have been big rivals so we’re taking this last match very seriously."
Nestor and Mirnyi fired six aces and converted three of their 10 break point chances. They lost serve only once when Nestor was broken in the opening game.
They quickly got the break back to pull even at 2-2 in the first set and settled in after that to get the victory over the team they beat in the Australian Open quarter-finals in January.
The Toronto player set up the first set point with a drive volley winner, with Mirnyi locking it up on a return down the middle. In the second set, they went up on an early break and advanced on a third match point thanks to a stinging Mirnyi winner.
Nestor is looking to end the season with his 75th career doubles title. He also won titles here in 2008 with Zimonjic and 2007 with Mark Knowles of the Bahamas.