Mirnyi and Nestor Defeat The Bryan Brothers For The Title – Roland Garros

Written by: Staff on 9th June 2012

Mirnyi and Nestor Defeat The Bryan Brothers For The Title - Roland Garros

epa03256844 Max Mirnyi (L) of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada celebrate with the trophy after winning the Men's doubles final match against Bob and Mike Bryan of the USA for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 09 June 2012. EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA |

(Original Story: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2012/06/23/Roland-Garros-Saturday-Doubles.aspx)

World No. 1 pairing Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor retained their Roland Garros crown on Saturday with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over the No. 2-ranked duo Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan.

A year earlier, Mirnyi and Nestor had won their first Grand Slam championship together at Roland Garros, defeating Juan Sebastian Cabal and Eduardo Schwank. It is their seventh tour-level team title since joining forces full time at the beginning of the 2011 season.

The 34-year-old Mirnyi captured his sixth Grand Slam doubles title, and his fourth at Roland Garros. As well as his 2011 victory, the Belarusian previously triumphed on the Parisian clay in 2005 and 2006 with Jonas Bjorkman.

Contesting his seventh Roland Garros final, the 39-year-old Nestor lifted his eighth major doubles trophy. He also won the title in 2007 with Mark Knowles and finished runner-up with his former long-time partner in 1998 and 2002, and again with Nenad Zimonjic in 2008.

Playing against the Bryans for the second time this season, Mirnyi and Nestor avenged the straight-sets loss they had suffered in the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters final in April. The Belarusian/Canadian duo secured the first set in 37 minutes after breaking Mike Bryan’s serve in the fifth game.

Both teams squandered break point chances in the opening exchanges of the second set before Mirnyi and Nestor converted their seventh opportunity to break Mike Bryan in the third game. Serving for the match in the 10th game, the top seeds missed their first match point as Mirnyi stroked a backhand volley long. Nestor created a second opportunity with a second serve ace past Bob Bryan and they converted with an unreturned serve after 95 minutes.

The 34-year-old Bryans were bidding to win a record-breaking 12th Grand Slam title together. They were also denied in this year’s Australian Open final, finishing runners-up to Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek.

The Americans won their first major title at Roland Garros in 2003, defeating Paul Haarhuis and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. They have since been runners-up in 2005 and 2006, falling to Bjorkman/Mirnyi on both occasions.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Bob Bryan, Daniel Nestor, Max Mirnyi, Mike Bryan, Roland Garros, Tennis News