France's Julien Benneteau (front L) and France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin (front R) return to Canada's Daniel Nestor (back L) and Serbia's Nenad Zimonjic during their Group B doubles match on day three of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament in London.ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP / Getty Images
Canadian doubles veteran Daniel Nestor and Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic suffered their second loss of the ATP Finals on Tuesday but still hold a slim chance of advancing out of the group stage.
The pair, who are playing their final tournament together after two partnerships over the years, dropped a 6-4, 5-7, 10-4 decision to Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Despite their 0-2 record, Toronto's Nestor and Zimonjic are not officially out of contention for the semifinals, but they will need to win their final group match on Thursday.
"Not so great I would imagine," a despondent Nestor said of his team's chances of advancing. "We're trying to win the last match and that's it.
"It would be good to win this last match, you always want to finish a season on a better note. When you don't do so well you are motivated to try and get back into the winner's circle."
The defeat was the second for the pair in four meetings with the French team this season, with Nestor and Zimonjic winning at the Rogers Cup in Toronto and in Sydney.
Nestor and Zimonjic were defeated in just under 90 minutes, with six aces and four double-faults. The team saved 12 of the 14 break points they faced but were able to break the French serve only twice in 10 attempts.
The second-seeded duo went down in the 29-minute opening set after Nestor was broken in the seventh game.
But in the second, the veteran pair fought back as Zimonjic saved three break points to hold for 5-all. A break of Roger-Vasselin in the final game sent the match to a tiebreak set.
Nestor and Zimonjic trailed 2-4 and faced five match points at 4-9, with Nestor pounding a service return forehand into the net to lose.
"They were better and returned much better in key moments," Nestor said. "They came up with big shots and put a lot of balls at our feet."
Nestor and Zimonjic won the title in London in 2008 and 2009. Nestor, who is making a record 15th appearance at the season-ending event, also claimed the trophy in 2007 with Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and 2011 with Max Mirnyi of Belarus.
Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., plays Andy Murray later Tuesday.