Bryan Brothers Top Frenchmen in Five Sets

Written by: Staff on 4th July 2012

Bryan Brothers Top Frenchmen in Five Sets

epa02804702 US tennis players Bob Bryan (R) and Mike Bryan (L) in action during their semi final doubles match against Michael Llodra of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 01 July 2011. EPA/NEIL MUNNS |

(Original Story: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2012/07/27/Wimbledon-Wednesday-Doubles-Bryans-Win-In-Five.aspx)

Second seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan prevailed against Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 7-6(5), 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2 in a third-round meeting between former champions on Wednesday at Wimbledon.

The Bryans held a comfortable lead when play resumed at two-all in the third set Wednesday, but dropped serve in each the third and fourth sets to allow the Frenchmen to draw level. They recovered with two breaks of serve in the 30-minute fifth set to claim their spot in the quarter-finals.

The 34-year-old American twins are two-time Wimbledon titlists, winning in 2006 and 2011, while Clement and Llodra captured the crown in 2007.

The Bryans will next face countrymen Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram, who advanced with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Australian wild cards Chris Guccione and Lleyton Hewitt. Lipsky and Ram are through to their third Grand Slam quarter-final, also reaching this stage last year at Roland Garros and in January at the Australian Open.

Fifth seeds Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau, finalists the past two years at Wimbledon, resumed their third-round match in the second set and clinched a 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(4) victory over Belgians Steve Darcis and Olivier Rochus.

Meanwhile, 2011 champions and 10th seeds Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner battled past Mikhail Elgin and Denis Istomin 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-7(9), 16-14 in three hours and 45 minutes. Elgin and Istomin were unable to capitalise on their six break point chances in the 105-minute fifth set.

The wild card pairing of Great Britain’s Jonathan Marray and Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen became the first team to book their place in the semi-finals as they held on to defeat the American-French duo of James Cerretani and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6(5), 7-6(4), 6-7(3), 2-6, 6-2.

Marray became the first Briton to reach the doubles semi-finals for 35 years. Mark Cox had been the last Briton to reach the last four in 1977

Topics: Arnaud Clement, Bob Bryan, British tennis news, Michael Llodra, Mike Bryan, Wimbledon 2012, Wimbledon Doubles