SHANGHAI, China — Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia beat Americans Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (3), 6-2 today to win the Masters Cup doubles title and clinch the year-end ATP No. 1 ranking.

The Bryan twins, who were playing for their third title here, held the top ranking and won Olympic bronze at Beijing in August.

"With all the points out there, having it hinge on ... a few points at the end of the season is pretty amazing," Bob Bryan said. "I guess we've got to tip our hat to them. They played a great tournament and had a great year. We look forward to battling it out next year for the same thing."

Nestor and Zimonjic have now beaten the Americans three straight times and went through the tournament here undefeated, taking all three of their round-robin matches and the semifinals.

"To win the Masters Cup — for me for the first time, for Danny to defend the title — to play against the Bryans, who have been dominating the doubles the last four, five years, and to fight for No. 1 spot, you couldn't ask for more as an athlete," said Zimonjic, who won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open in January with China's Sun Tiantian.

Bob Bryan said he was optimistic heading into 2009 because his injured shoulder is feeling better.

"It's been a lot worse," he said. "This week it turned around. I was able to play some good tennis, hit some pretty big serves. So looking forward to next year. Hopefully it's all gone by then."

The Bryans are awaiting the Davis Cup against Switzerland, which won the Olympic gold.

"It's obviously going to be a lot of fun ... being on the same court with Roger Federer," Bob Bryan said. "The guy's the best player of all time."

The Bryans also feel they have plenty of good tennis left in them.

"We still think we're getting better, even though we're 30 years old," Mike Bryan said. "It's kind of like a fine wine: you get better with age when you play doubles and you learn more things."