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Daniel Nestor advances in doubles; fellow Canadian Adil Shamasdin gets under way Thursday

The 42-year-old Canadian and partner Leander Paes breezed through their first-round doubles match at Wimbledon Wednesday. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca)

WIMBLEDON – Canadian doubles legend Daniel Nestor, who has had inconsistent results with new partner Leander Paes since the veteran pair (both 42) teamed up in April, had no trouble moving into the second round Wednesday.

Leander and Paes easily dispatched the Serbian pair of Viktor Troicki and Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.

Here are some highlights.

Meanwhile, as the first round of doubles stretches out over at least four days, Pickering, Ont.'s Adil Shamasdin hasn't even played yet, while another Canadian, Vasek Pospisil, played his first-round match with American partner Jack Sock Monday.

Shamasdin and Australian partner Rameez Junaid get under way Thursday against the unseeded pair of Dominic Inglot and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

The advantage Shamasdin and Junaid may have is experience; they have been playing together much of the season, while Inglot and Roger-Vasselin are a first-time pairing.

Shamasdin is also signed up for mixed doubles with countrywoman Gabriela Dabrowski. It's the first time two Canadians have teamed up for mixed in a Grand Slam since Daniel Nestor and Aleksandra Wozniak played together at the Australian Open in 2009, and Shamasdin's first career appearance in the mixed.

On the "watch this space" front, Pospisil's partner Sock, who lost in the first round of singles to big-serving Aussie Sam Groth, had physical issues during the match.

Indeed, he has a broken finger. Luckily, it's on his left hand, but still...  Pospisil and Sock play Eric Butorac and Colin Fleming in the second round.

 

 

If there's a precedent, it's this: Nestor won his first Wimbledon doubles title in 2008 with then-partner Nenad Zimonjic playing with a broken bone in his left wrist.

Also on Thursday, Pospisil will take on No. 30 seed Fabio Fognini in his second-round singles match.

Fognini, a mercurial Italian, can come out on the day and be dazzingly brilliant, or completely disinterested. We'll see which Fognini shows up.

"Tough match, again, he’s a talented player, can play on any surface. Definitely rather play him on grass than on clay, if I can serve well and just take it to him. He’s a good player but I can definitely beat him so I’ll just do my best and see how it goes," Pospisil said.