NEW YORK — Canada’s Daniel Nestor is out of the U.S. Open after an ill-tempered quarter-final loss in men’s doubles action Tuesday.
The Toronto native and his Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic suffered a 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-0 loss to Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Andy Ram of Israel.
Nestor was furious with chair umpire Lynn Welch for not controlling what appeared to be a rowdy bunch who stood out in the sparely populated Grandstand stadium.
They yelled and distracted in support of Mirnyi and Ram, which bothered Nestor and Zimonjic enough to complain.
“Your job is to say something, this is not Davis Cup,” the 27-year-old Canadian told the chair. “There is something called sportsmanship.”
He and the burly Ram then exchanged harsh words after the loss.
“I don’t mind losing if we get beat,” said Nestor. “But not losing if some guy in the crowd is acting like a jackass. I remember him from Cincinnati last year making the same kind of noises and clapping between serves.
“I got in his face about it and got a warning (fifth game of the third set). I asked Ram about it in the locker-room and he claimed not to know anything — said he was too focused on his game or something.”
The final set scoreline marked the first 6-0 loss the Canadian had taken since he and former partner Mark Knowles were beaten by Bob and Mike Bryan in the New York semi-finals six years ago.
Nestor won the title here in 2004 with Knowles.
Nestor and Zimonjic, seeded second, started the match on form claiming the opening set in 49 minutes in a tiebreaker.
They won after a double-fault from their opponents set up a trio of set point.