Nestor-Zimonjic win men’s doubles crown; Williamses triumph

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia won their second straight Wimbledon men’s doubles title Saturday, beating top-seeded American twins Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (7), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-3.

“It’s a great accomplishment,” Nestor said. “One of the first things I noticed was our name on the board, on the big plaque. Now we get it twice. It’s obviously going to be special to come back next year and see that.”

Nestor and Zimonjic were playing in their third Grand Slam final together. In addition to winning the Wimbledon title last year, they lost in the 2008 French Open final.

This year’s final was the first time that Nestor and Zimonjic have played the Bryan brothers in a Grand Slam tournament.

“It’s great to be able to play them on a big stage and be able to beat them,” Nestor said.

The Bryan brothers, who have won seven major titles together, entered the match on Centre Court without having dropped a set at the All England Club this year.

Despite holding serve throughout the first three sets, the brothers were broken in the second game of the fourth set and Nestor and Zimonjic held the rest of the way.

“I haven’t lost serve in doubles or mixed in probably 21‚Ñ2 years,” Bob Bryan said. “I didn’t make my first serves and they made some good returns. But you can’t make any excuses.”

The difference was the way Nestor and Zimonjic held serve, Bob Bryan said.

“It’s a game of inches and when you’re playing two guys who are serving close to 130 [mph], and you’re not getting a lot of sniffs on your return, it’s a dice roll,” Bob Bryan said. “They were the better team today and I have to give them a lot of credit.”

Women

Serena Williams won a pair of Grand Slam titles, just like her sister Venus did last year.

Serena added the women’s doubles title to her take at this year’s tournament, teaming with big sister Venus to beat Rennae Stubbs and Samantha Stosur of Australia 7-6 (4), 6-4. It’s their fourth Wimbledon title together, part of their haul of nine Grand Slam women’s doubles championships.

“There’s nothing like winning a title with your sister,” said Serena, who has won 11 major singles titles. “It’s really a good feeling.”

Earlier Saturday on Centre Court, Serena beat Venus 7-6 (3), 6-2 in singles to win her third Wimbledon title — she beat her older sister in each final.

A year ago, Venus beat Serena in the championship match to win her fifth Wimbledon singles title, and the pair then teamed up to win the doubles.

“One out of two’s not bad,” Venus said. “I really wanted to win the singles, but they’re two separate events. If I won the singles and not the doubles, it’s still not the same.”

Against the Australians, the Williams sisters traded breaks in the first set, with Stosur and Stubbs taking a 2-1 lead off Serena’s opening service game. But the Americans eventually broke back to 4-4 when Stosur put a backhand volley into the net.

In the tiebreaker, Venus put the sisters up a mini-break on the second point with a return of serve that Stubbs couldn’t get back over.

“The ball clipped the tape, and therefore it went a little bit higher than it should have and it hit my frame and didn’t quite get off the string,” Stubbs said. “It was really unlucky.”

The most entertaining point of the match came with Stubbs serving at 1-1 in the second set. Serena returned the serve, and Stubbs swung her racket behind her and hit the ball through her legs to get it back over.