THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Canadian Daniel Nestor and Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic have advanced to their first doubles final of the year.
They defeated France’s Richard Gasquet and Swede Robert Lindstedt 7-5, 6-2 at the Pacific Life Open on Thursday.
"We did a good job of serving after a quick start by the other guys," said Nestor. "Then we got on a roll and started playing as we did all week — as a team and intense."
The third-seeded pair will play for the title against the winner from fourth-seeded Israelis Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram and Britain’s Jamie Murray and Max Mirnyi of Belarus.
"I think we can beat anyone on any given day, and I think there’s no reason why we can’t win tomorrow," said Nestor.
Nestor, 35, and Zimonjic went down a break in the fifth game of the opening set, with the pair clawing it back for 5-all.
"Maybe it wasn’t our best start," said Nestor. "But a huge game to break back to make it 5-all."
A hold from the Serb was followed by another break to claim the opening set.
The winning momentum set the pace for a second set which went quickly, Nestor’s team breaking early on the way to a 4-1 lead before closing out victory with another break on first match point.
The win was their second quick victory in succession after losing just three games in beating quarter-final opponents Paul Hanley and Leander Paes.
The newly formed pair have been lifting their level this season after winning the St Petersburg titles during their first few weeks together last autumn.
Nestor, from Toronto, and Zominjic got to the semis in Dubai two weeks ago, but fell to Czechs Martin Damm and Pavel Vizner.
Meanwhile, defending champion Rafael Nadal beat James Blake for the first time in their four meetings to move into the semifinals.
Nadal finished off a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory over his American opponent with a 128-m.p.h. ace, then sank to his knees and thrust his arms skyward.
He had finally taken the upper hand in the tight match when he broke Blake’s service for a 5-3 lead in the third set.
The Spaniard, ranked No. 2 behind Roger Federer, then served out without losing another point.
The ninth-ranked Blake had beaten Nadal in the U.S. Open in 2005, then defeated him twice in 2006, including the semifinals in Indian Wells.
Federer, on the other side of the bracket, will play Tommy Haas in a quarterfinals match Friday.
Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic, both 20-year-old Serbs who have joined the ranks of tennis’ elite, won matches in straight sets Thursday to move into the Pacific Life Open semifinals.
Australian Open champion Djokovic defeated Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6(5), 6-2 to advance in the men’s tournament, and No. 2 Ivanovic beat Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 6-4 on the women’s side.
Two-time champion Lindsay Davenport had to retire from her match against Jelena Jankovic after the first set because of a back problem. Jankovic, also from Serbia, won the set 6-2.
Davenport, who has had back trouble in the past, said she thought lingering tightness might go away while she was playing.
"It was pretty obvious to me after two games that I was pretty sore, and it was hard to rotate," she said. "I tried to do the best I could. But sometimes these things happen, and when you’re familiar with an injury, you kind of know right away what you’re up against."
Davenport hopes the problem will clear up quickly so she can play at Miami in the tournament that begins next week.
"We’ll just have to see what the next few days bring," she said.
No. 3 Djokovic, down 6-5 in the opening set, broke Wawrinka’s serve to set up the tiebreaker. Then, when Wawrinka was unable to return his volley for the final point of the tiebreaker, Djokovic celebrated by dropping to his knees, yelling in glee and pounding his chest with both hands.
"I’m a very emotional player on the court and very emotional person off the court as well," said Djokovic, also known for his wry sense of humour. "As you could see by the reaction, it was one of the — not one of the, probably the most important point of the match."
It proved a turning point, as he went on to take clear control in the second set.
Djokovic beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Australian Open after upsetting Federer in the semis. It was Djokovic’s first Grand Slam title and the first time since 2005 when someone other than Federer or Rafael Nadal had won a men’s Grand Slam tournament.
Ivanovic, the tournament’s top seed, got off to a quick start against Zvonareva, taking just some 10 minutes to win the first four games against her Russian opponent.
"She beat me a few times quite easy, so I knew I had to be active and sharp from the first moment on to put pressure on her," said Ivanovic, who had split four previous matches against Zvonareva.
Ivanovic, who lost to Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final, will face Jankovic in one semifinal on Friday, with the other pitting Russians Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The women’s and men’s finals are on Sunday.