Second seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic successfully defended their Wimbledon title with a 7-6(7), 6-7(3), 7-6(3), 6-3 victory over rivals Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan in a gripping final on Saturday at the All England Club.

Canadian Nestor and Zimonjic of Serbia captured their first Grand Slam title together at Wimbledon last year, with victory over Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett, and become the first team to retain the men’s doubles title since Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge in 2004.

"It's a great accomplishment," said Nestor. "It's the biggest stage on Centre Court. A great crowd, we're playing our rivals for the last ten years with different partners. We've had so many tough matches against these guys. It's the first time we played them in a Grand Slam final. It's obviously special to beat them."

Since reuniting for a sustained partnership in 2007, Nestor and Zimonjic have reached three Grand Slam finals – also finishing runner-up to Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna in the 2008 Roland Garros final.

Nestor and Zimonjic, currently No. 2 in the 2009 ATP Doubles Team Rankings, have now won a tour level-best six titles together this season – including four titles in five weeks over the European clay-court season.

The Canadian-Serbian duo came into its eighth final of the season after a dramatic semi-final match that saw the team recover from a two-set deficit against James Blake and Mardy Fish to prevail 10-8 in the fifth set – ruining the chance of an all-American men’s doubles final on Independence Day.

Against their great rivals the Bryans, it was the final most neutrals had hoped and it lived up to its billing as the teams clashed for the ninth time in a tour-level final. In a serve-dominated encounter, the first break of serve did not come until play had been underway for two hours and 20 minutes.

The first three sets were decided on tie-breaks. Mike Bryan netted a forehand volley to surrender the one-set lead to Nestor and Zimonjic, but played a large part in drawing the twins level in the second set tie-break after finishing a terrific net exchange by smashing the ball down the middle to earn a set point – which was duly converted. After both teams failed to capitalise on early break point opportunities in the third set, Zimonjic took charge in the third tie-break to quickly earn his team a mini-break with a perfectly timed stop volley and his partner made it safe with a forehand winner to lead 6-2 – a lead they would not relinquish.

The defences of the Bryan twins were finally penetrated in the second game of the fourth set, when they were broken for just the third time in the tournament courtesy of a succession of telling returns by their opponents. Despite immediately holding opportunities to break back, the Americans were unable to draw level and Zimonjic closed out victory for his team after two hours and 42 minutes with the duo’s 25th ace.

"It's a great feeling when I hit that last serve and it was an ace. It was just amazing," said Zimonjic. "Both finals, last year and this year, I have to say we played really well. We never lost our serves in those two matches. Both great opponents, tough opponents. I thought before coming to this final it's going to be very tough and it's going to be one or two points here or there, and that's exactly what happened. I thought we came up with big second serves when it mattered, with bigger returns, and I think we deserved it. It's a great, great feeling - especially after that semi-final match where we were really in trouble, two sets to love down."

The 36-year-old Nestor, who completed the career Grand Slam with his 2008 Wimbledon triumph, clinched his fifth major doubles title. The left-hander also won three Grand Slam titles with former long-time partner Mark Knowles at the 2002 Australian Open, the 2004 US Open and 2007 Roland Garros. He has amassed 61 tour-level doubles titles in his 19-year career – the most among active players.

Zimonjic, 33, won his 29th tour-level title and his second Grand Slam doubles title. The right-hander finished runner-up in earlier Wimbledon finals in 2004 (w/ Knowle) and 2006 (w/ Santoro).

The 31-year-old Bryan brothers were bidding to win their second Wimbledon title – adding to the trophy they claimed in 2006 with victory over Fabrice Santoro and Zimonjic. It is the third runner-up finish at Wimbledon for the Californians, who also lost out in 2005 and ’07.

The Americans were looking for their second Grand Slam title of the season and their eighth overall. At the start of the season they won their third Australian Open title with victory over Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles, it is one of four tour-level titles they have captured in 2009.

By reaching their 15th major doubles final as a team, the Bryans have matched the Open Era record – held by Australians Tood Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde. They have reached at least one Grand Slam final each year since 2003.