Max Mirnyi of Belarus (L) and Daniel Nestor of Canada return the ball to Bob Bryan and his brother Mike Bryan of the U.S. during their men's doubles final at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris June 9, 2012.FRANCOIS LENOIR/Reuters
Canadian Daniel Nestor and partner Max Mirnyi of Belarus won their second straight French Open men's doubles title with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Bob and Mike Bryan of the U.S. on Saturday.
The top-seeded Nestor team will keep the ATP No.1 ranking as a result of the victory — the third in a row for the 39-year-old from Toronto after winning the 2010 trophy with former partner Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia.
Nestor, who came to Paris with a record 77 doubles titles, claimed his eighth Grand Slam title with the solid Paris victory.
He served out the final as he set up a second match point with the team's eighth ace, then watched a Bryan service return sail over the baseline for victory on the next point.
The match took less than 90 minutes on the Chatrier showcase court in early evening sun.
"The Bryans are the best team of all time," said Nestor. "Any time we get a win over them we feel fortunate. They didn't play their best match but we will take it.
"We look forward to more battles with them."
Nestor and Mirnyi, who are playing their second season together, levelled their record against the Bryans to 2-2 after also winning the year-end event in London at the Americans' expense.
Nestor broke the Bryans in the opening set, taking a 3-2 lead as the threat of rain at the start of play appeared to pass.
Mirnyi sealed the set after 37 minutes as he put over a huge service winner, with Nestor producing a smooth cross-court volley winner on the first set point.
The Bryans went down a break in the third game of the second set after saving three break points, only to fall on the fourth as Nestor took the 2-1 lead.
That margin held up as Nestor held for 4-2 with the finishing line looking near.
Nestor has now won four Roland Garros titles over the past six editions with three different partners. He and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas claimed their first in 2007 and lost the final the next year.