Dubai: Top seeds and former champions Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic powered into the doubles final of the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open with a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8) win over the German pair of Daniel Brands and Florian Mayer on Friday.
Nestor won here in the company of Mark Knowles in 2002, while Zimonjic triumphed along with Frenchman Fabrice Santoro in 2007. Long-time doubles specialists on the ATP World Tour, Zimonjic and Nestor made their experience count, especially in the deciding tie-breakers in both sets.
The first set was more open and the top seeds had at least three clear opportunities to wrap things up.
They broke early for a 2-1 lead, but the Davis Cup pairing for Germany broke straight back.
Zimonjic and Nestor were again in the clear with a break in the seventh, but Mayer and Brands broke back to draw level 5-5 to eventually go into the tie-break that the top seeds won 7-4.
The second set was more even with both pairs giving nothing away and a tie-break was needed. Leading 4-2 at the change-over, Zimonjic and Nestor fought back for 6-6.
But it was the superior experience of the two former champions that counted as they won the tie-break 10-8.
Nestor and Zimonjic will await the winners of the second semi-final scheduled to be played later on Friday night between Tomasz Bednarek and Lukas Dlouhy and the Indo-Pak Express of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.
