Bryan Brothers One Win From Historic Achievement

Written by: Staff on 4th July 2013

Bryan Brothers One Win From Historic Achievement

epa02806972 US tennis players Bob Bryan (C) and Mike Bryan (L) celebrate winning their final doubles match against Robert Lindstedt (unseen) of Sweden and Horia Tecau (R) of Romania for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 02 July 2011. EPA/NEIL MUNNS |

(Original Story: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2013/07/27/Wimbledon-Thursday2-Doubles-Bryans.aspx )

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan reached their fourth Grand Slam final in a row on Thursday at Wimbledon as they edged Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in the semi-finals of The Championships.

“It feels good to be through,” said Bob Bryan. “The two times we’ve won this tournament, we’ve had these type of battles. You just build confidence that you can win it in sticky moments. Now we’re kind of battle tested and ready for the finals.”

After victories at the Australian Open and Roland Garros this year, the Americans are bidding to become only the second team in history to win the calendar Grand Slam, following in the footsteps of Australians Ken McGregor and Frank Sedgman in 1951. The last doubles player to win the first three Grand Slam championships of the year was Jacco Eltingh in 1998.

Having also won the 2012 US Open, the Bryans are one win away from becoming the first team to hold all four Grand Slam championships and the Olympic gold medal. McGregor and Sedgman hold the record for most major titles in a row, having won seven straight trophies from the 1951 Australian Open till 1952 Wimbledon.

The 35-year-old twins are looking to win their 91st tour-level title and 15th major in 24 finals. They will face 12th seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in Saturday’s final.

“It’s definitely a great opportunity to do something a team’s never done before,” said Mike Bryan. “We’re just going to go out there and have fun. There’s not a huge amount of pressure. We’re going to try to go out and win the Wimbledon title, which we’ve done before. We’re playing kind of a fairytale team, Melo and Dodig, in their first Grand Slam final. We’ll be tough to beat if we play well.”

The Bryans have triumphed at the All England Club twice before, with victories in 2006 (d. Santoro/Zimonjic) and 2011 (d. Lindstedt/Tecau) and are through to the final for the sixth time, having also finished runners-up in 2005, ’07 and ’09.

The Bryans go into the final on a 23-match winning streak. They have not lost a match since the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters final (l. to Benneteau/Zimonjic), winning titles in Madrid (d. Peya/Soares), Rome (d. Bhupathi/Bopanna), Roland Garros (d. Llodra/Mahut) and The Queen’s Club (d. Peya/Soares).

“Ever since we took that week off after that Monte-Carlo final, seems like we’ve been winning the swing points,” said Mike Bryan. “It’s been a helluva run. Probably the best run we’ve had in our career.”

Dodig and Melo reached their first Grand Slam final with a hard-fought 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over fourth seeds and 2012 Australian Open champions Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek. The Croatian/Brazilian duo will contest just their second final together, having finished runners-up at Memphis last year in their first tournament together.

Topics: Bob Bryan, Doubles tennis news, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Mike Bryan, Rohan Bopanna, Wimbledon Championships