TENNIS in DEPTH.

Daniel Nestor of Canada and Max Mirnyi of Belarus won their first Grand Slam title together by defeating Eduardo Schwank of Argentina and Juan Sebastian Cabal of Colombia 7-6 (7-3) 3-6, 6-4 in the French Open men’s doubles final.

It was also Nestor’s seventh major title in men’s doubles and Mirnyi’s fifth, all with different partners. “We knew on paper we’re capable of playing well together,” Mirnyi said. “Up until you produce a result, you never know.” The second-seeded Nestor and Mirnyi saved three break points in the first set to force a tiebreaker. But the unseeded South American team then jumped to a 3-0 lead and held serve to level at one set apiece. “Today was a dog fight,” Nestor said. “I thought those guys were playing tough. We were fortunate to win the first set.” Nestor and Mirnyi clinched victory when Cabal double-faulted on match point.

Cabal and Schwank were playing in their first tournament together. Cabal was making his Grand Slam debut while Schwank had already reached the Wimbledon and US Open doubles semifinals.

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Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls, Ont., Peter Polansky of Thornhill, Ont., and doubles specialist Daniel Nestor of Toronto will join Milos Raonic on outdoor clay at Club Deportivo La Asuncion in Metepec.

“We have a world-class team with a lot of depth, and that gives us quite a bit of flexibility,” said captain Martin Laurendeau. “Our objective is to qualify for the World Group and we are very eager to take the first of our three steps against Mexico.” Mexico has won all but six of the 24 head-to-head Davis Cup ties between the two countries. However, Canada holds the No. 32 position in the Davis Cup rankings, 10 spots higher than Mexico. Canada also posted a dominant win in their last meeting in 2008.

The best-of-five tie begins with two singles matches on March 4. A doubles match goes March 5 and reverse singles matches will be played March 6. The winner of the tie will reach the second round of the Americas Zone Group I.

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Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic enjoyed a dream ending to their partnership as they beat Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi 7-6 (8/6) 6-4 to win their second end-of-season doubles title at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The Canadian/Serbian duo, who were champions in 2008, followed up their victory over top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan in the semi-finals to lift the trophy at London’s O2 Arena. The first set was dominated by serve before the second seeds finally edged it, saving a set point in the process. Bhupathi and Mirnyi, from India and Belarus respectively, beat their opponents on their way to victory at the Paris Masters two weeks ago, but this time it was Nestor and Zimonjic’s day, with a single break of the Bhupathi serve enough to give them the title. After three years with Zimonjic, Nestor will team up with the man he beat on Sunday – Mirnyi – in 2011.

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Top seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic became the first doubles team in eight years to defend the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters title on Sunday. The Canadian-Serbian duo was leading No. 5 seed Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi 6-3, 2-0, when Bhupathi retired due to a right leg injury after 44 minutes of play.

“We played solid all week,” said Nestor. “Of course we got a little fortunate today with the injury which is unfortunate for them. They’ve been playing really well recently, getting to the final in Miami and they’ll definitely be one of the teams to contend with throughout the rest of the season.”

“”Monte-Carlo is definitely one of the nicest tournaments on the tour, with a lot of tradition,” said Zimonjic. “I have some great memories in Monte-Carlo. It was here that I won my first Masters 1000 title back in 2004. It’s a special feeling every time I play here and it’s great that we could defend our title.

“Of course with Mahesh getting injured, it’s not the way you want to win, but we played well the whole weekend. It’s my fourth title here and it’s nice to win at least one tournament more times than Daniel has!”

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Rafael Nadal ensured his place in at least one final this weekend at the BNP Paribas Open, after teaming up with fellow Spaniard Marc Lopez for a 6-4, 6-4 semi-final win over sixth-seeded duo Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley on Friday afternoon in Indian Wells.

Nadal will play his singles semi-final against Croatian Ivan Ljubicic at noon Saturday, before he and Lopez compete for the doubles title at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament after 5:00pm.

Nadal and Lopez are playing in their fifth tournament together, and claimed an ATP World Tour title on their partnership debut – defeating Nestor and Zimonjic in the 2009 Doha final.

The 23-year-old Nadal claimed both the singles and doubles (w/Robredo) titles two years ago in Monte Carlo, becoming just the fourth player in the history of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments to accomplish the feat.

Lopez and Nadal will again meet Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in the championship match after the tournament’s No. 1 seeds defeated big-serving American duo John Isner and Sam Querrey, 6-4, 6-2, in 58 minutes.

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