{allcanada} Nestor, Mirnyi lose doubles final

 

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Toronto's Daniel Nestor and partner Max Mirnyi of Belarus lost the men's doubles title at the Sony Ericsson Open on Saturday to India's Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.

The third-seeded Paes and Bhupathi earned a 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 10-5 (match tiebreak) victory over Nestor and Mirnyi, the second seeds.

Paes and Bhupathi earned their victory hours after India captured the cricket World Cup over Sri Lanka.

Nestor and Mirnyi, who only started playing together regularly this season, were looking for their second doubles title after winning in Memphis in February. Nestor and Mirnyi lost to the pair from India in the semifinals at the Australian Open in January.

Paes and Bhupathi prevailed in just over 90 minutes, rallying after losing the first set in 53 minutes.

A turning point in the match came in the second set when Paes and Bhupathi broke Nestor in the fourth game. The final tiebreak set was a shootout as the winners reached five match points.

Nestor and Mirnyi saved the first, but a return error by the Canadian proved huge. Nestor and his partner saved seven break points in the tight contest while registering four service breaks.

"It was a tough final, they played good when they had to," said Nestor. "We had a good first set but they lifted their game and we made too many errors.

"We're now heading to the clay and a change of season."

Nestor has been a regular in Miami, missing the event only once since 1994. He and former partner Mark Knowles of the Bahamas won in 2002.

Nestor and Mirnyi head to Europe with a 14-5 record so far this season.

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