| Friday, 4 July 2008 Written by Beci Wood Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic will face Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett in the men’s doubles final on Sunday after edging out ninth seeds Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes in a topsy-turvy five set battle that lasted 3 hours 16 minutes and stretched over two days. Nestor, the Yugoslavia-born Canadian who now resides in the Bahamas, and Serbia's Zimonjic only formed their partnership at the end of last year but they have been on a roll this year, winning 20 of 22 matches, including the Wimbledon warm-up title at Queens. And their class shone through in the semi-final as they raised their game when it mattered most in the deciding fifth set to emerge 7-6 (7-4), 4-5, 6-1, 4-6, 8-6 winners against a pair they have never played. In a first set heavily dominated by serve, it came as no surprise that a tie-break was needed to separate the pairs. The second seeds were first to gain the advantage, securing a 5-3 mini-break lead after Nestor floated a sweet forehand between a stranded Paes and Dlouhy. Big serving Zimonjic then had two opportunities to wrap up the set at 6-4, but only needed one after Paes dumped a return into the net. The momentum immediately turned at the start the second set, with Nestor successfully saving three break points before a stinging service return from Paes, a winner of eight Grand Slam doubles titles, left the Canadian flat-footed. The Indian/Czech team consolidated for a 2-0 lead, before Zimonjic fired three aces in the third game to keep in touch at 1-2. With the scoreline at 4-3 in his favour, Dlouhy needed a quick rub on his right shoulder from the trainer, however it didn’t seem to affect proceedings as he and Paes confidently went on to level the contest at one set all three games later. The match then swung back in favour of a pumped up Nestor/Zimonjic, as they fizzed back returns and combined well at the net to break Paes and Dlouhy in the fourth and sixth games respectively to seal the set 6-1 in just 24 minutes. The fourth, played as darkness moved in on Thursday night, was punctuated by drama as Zimonjic needed treatment on his left wrist after clattering into a line judge while chasing a lob with the score at 3-3 and 40-15 on Nestor's serve. With his wrist heavily strapped, the Serb went out and played one more point before the contest was called for the night due to bad light. With play resumed at 3-3 on Friday, it was Paes and Dlouhy who found their rhythm first, breaking Zimonjic in the 10th game to level the tie at two sets all. With the match going to a deciding fifth set, play reverted back to the serve-dominated affair of the first set. Unfortunately for Dlouhy, it was his ghastly double fault at 30-40 down in the 13th game that handed the No. 2 seeds the vital break. Canadian Nestor made no mistake in closing out the match, his wicked sliding left-handed serve securing a spot in the final after Paes drifted a forehand return wide.
| Court 1 - Gentlemen's Doubles - Semifinals | |
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