THE CANADIAN PRESS
BARCELONA, Spain — Canadian Daniel Nestor and Serb Nenad Zimonjic reached their second straight clay final, beating Swede Simon Aspelin and South African Wesley Moodie 7-6 (2), 7-6 (8) at the Barcelona Open on Saturday.
Rafael Nadal will attempt to win his fifth straight singles title at the event when he meets fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in a repeat of last year’s final.
Nestor and Zimonjic, who won their first clay event of the season at Monte Carlo, will take on either top-seeded Americans Bob and Mike Bryan or the No. 4 pairing of India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas in Sunday’s doubles final.
The second seeds are seeking their third championship of the year.
"Nenad and I have started turning our season around," said Nestor. "We got off to a great start on clay in Monte Carlo last week and we want to keep it up.
"It’s great to be lifting our game before the French Open. Nenad and I played solid out there and we really have to keep that up for the final."
Nestor, the 36-year-old from Toronto, won doubles titles in Barcelona with Knowles in 2004 and 2006, and is also aiming to claim his 58th career title in his 100th final appearance.
"It would be great if it could happen here," he said. "Nenad’s been serving well and that’s always the key to our game."
Nadal beat Russian Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-2 and Ferrer rallied to defeat Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5) to set up their match.
"Whatever happens tomorrow, it’s an excellent start to the clay season," said Nadal, who is 6-3 against Ferrer. "I’m enjoying the best moment of my career this past year and I have to appreciate that and feel happy about it."
Nadal has not dropped his serve in the tournament and saved all six of Davydenko’s break points in windy conditions.
Davydenko hit too many unforced errors, often sending his backhand wide, as Nadal earned his 24th straight win on clay.
Nadal saved three break points in the first set and broke the ninth-ranked Russian twice.
In the second set, Nadal broke to lead 3-1 and then saved three more break points in the next game. The ninth-ranked Russian wasted the first chance by hitting a crosscourt backhand wide, then watched Nadal slice a perfect crosscourt shot onto the line to save the second before Davydenko hit wide again.
Nadal ended the match with a passing shot down the line to even his head-to-head record to 3-3 against Davydenko, with the three victories coming on clay.
Nadal had a rest day Friday after his quarter-final opponent David Nalbandian withdrew before the match with a right hip injury.
Gonzalez’s booming forehand helped the Chilean set up two early break points to lead 5-1 in the first set. But Ferrer turned it around in the second set, leading 3-0 by moving Gonzalez around the court and then coming to the net to even the match.
Ferrer broke to lead 3-1 in the final set after Gonzalez sent a forehand wide, causing the Chilean to snap his racket in anger.
Ferrer saved a fourth break chance in the seventh game to hold serve following a seventh deuce, but Gonzalez broke to love in the ninth game to force the tiebreaker.
"There were lot of nerves, it was really tense," Ferrer said. "I’m in the final, I’ll fight to the end and see what happens."
— With files from The Associated Press