Excalibur
05-16-06, - 11:38 PM
ROME (CP) - Canadian Daniel Nestor and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas won the Rome Masters for the second time Sunday, defeating sixth-seeded Israelis Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram 6-4, 5-7, 13-11 in a thrilling third-set tiebreak.
The victory moved Knowles and Nestor to 23-8 on the season with a title in Barcelona on clay last month.
"It's nice to come back to a play place where you've won already and back it up," said Nestor, who won the 1997 title with Knowles and finished runner-up in 2001 with Australian partner Sandon Stolle. "Mark and I improved our game all week and got very comfortable on the clay.
The victory moved Knowles and Nestor to 23-8 on the season with a title in Barcelona on clay last month.
"It's nice to come back to a play place where you've won already and back it up," said Nestor, who won the 1997 title with Knowles and finished runner-up in 2001 with Australian partner Sandon Stolle. "Mark and I improved our game all week and got very comfortable on the clay.