  Canada's Daniel Nestor, right, and Serbia's Nenad Zimonjic, left, seen, during their ATP World Tour Finals tennis match against Poland's Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski at the O2 Arena in London, Sunday Nov. 22, 2009. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Kirsty Wigglesworth) |
LONDON - Toronto's Daniel Nestor and Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic got off to a poor start in their title defence at the ATP World Tour Finals on Sunday, dropping a 6-4, 6-4 decision to the Polish duo of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.
Top seeds Nestor and Zimonjic came to the court having won five of seven meetings against their opponents in what had generally been tight matches, including final-set tiebreakers earlier this season in Sydney and Cincinnati.
But the eighth-seeded Polish pair found early form, never facing a break point while converting a pair of break chances against Nestor and Zimonjic.
"They have always played us tough and they got the early edge today," said Nestor. "We need to regroup if we want to go through into the semifinals."
The defending champions entered London with an ATP-best nine titles in 11 finals, highlighted by a successful Wimbledon defence and five Masters 1000 championships.
Nestor and Zimonjic return to the court Tuesday.
