Nenad Zimonjic from Serbia, left, and Daniel Nestor from Canada hold up their trophies after winning the doubles final match against Bob and Mike Bryan from U.S. at Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid on May 11.The Associated Press
Canadian Daniel Nestor and Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic won their second Madrid Masters doubles title, beating Americans Bob and Mike Bryan 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday.
The 58-minute victory ended the Americans' win streak at 24 matches with titles at their last five events.
"Today we played amazing, that was the most important thing," said Nestor. "We played well on a big occasion when it really mattered."
Nestor, 41, from Toronto, claimed his fifth trophy in the Spanish capital after capturing it three times with Mark Knowles of the Bahamas (2002, 2004, 2009). He has won the last two ('09, '14) with Zimonjic.
Nestor and his Serbian partner have won 26 titles together, including two this year. They won in Sydney in January and have lost in the final in Dubai and Barcelona on clay.
Nestor also won the Brisbane title alongside Mariusz Fyrstenberg in the opening week of the season.
Nestor moved into third in all-time titles with 84, trailing Mike Bryan (100) and Bob Bryan (98). Nestor appeared in his 139th doubles final.
The victory was redemption for Nestor and Zimonjic after losing to the Bryans in a Monte Carlo semifinal, their only other previous meeting this year with the top-ranked Americans.
"I can't complain about a fifth trophy here," said Nestor, "We've had a couple of chances to win titles this year but we didn't play well on those opportunities.
"We got ahead early against them today, that is the key, They are such great front-runners. It's important to lead or at least stay close. We had some tough situations but we fought through them. We've been resilient all year. It's nice to play our best match in the final."
Nestor said the 800-metre Madrid altitude has always been good for him. Up next for Nestor and his partner will be an event in Rome, the last major tuneup prior to the French Open, which begins May 25.
"I have a lot of experience at altitude form South American Davis Cup matches," said Nestor. "It will be an adjustment next week to get back to sea level but there is nothing better than playing matches and winning them.
"This is the best situation possible going into a grand slam. We have huge confidence, we really put it together this week with four really good matches. It's a good sign going forward."