Bryans' hopes of claiming top spot hit by defeat

LONDON (Reuters) - American duo Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan saw their hopes of ending the year as the world's best doubles team fading away as they lost their opener 6-4 6-4 to Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram at the ATP World Tour Finals on Monday.

They now have to win the title here and hope Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic lose their next two matches after the pair's defeat on Sunday in the first of three round-robin matches.

The 31-year-old Bryan twins, who have won all four grand slam titles in their career, are 930 points behind Canada's Nestor and Serbian Zimonjic in the rankings -- the pair they lost to in the Wimbledon final this year.

"We could have maybe put a little pressure on them today," Bob Bryan told reporters. "But I guess mathematically we still have a chance. If we play some good tennis down the road, who knows what's going to happen."

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)