Sunday, April 20, 2014

Mike Bryan wins 100th ATP doubles title

   Mike Bryan today became the first player to win 100 ATP World Tour doubles titles.
   Bryan and twin brother Bob, the top-ranked doubles team, edged third-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 6-3, 3-6 [10-8] for their fourth Monte Carlo title and 98th as a team.
   “It's amazing to hit triple digits,” Mike Bryan said on atpworldtour.com. “It's a great milestone to say that you have a hundred, to be the first player to hit a hundred titles. Kind of snuck up on us pretty quick.
   "Last few years, we've been really hot. We always wanted to beat the Woodies' (Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde's) record of 61. Then trying to clip Todd Woodbridge's 83 titles. All of a sudden, I’m at 99.
   “It will feel a lot better when we do it as a team. We've always looked at our career as team titles, doing it together. That's the huge goal for this year, to do it together.”
   Bob added, “Hopefully [we’ll do it] before (the French Open). We've got two tournaments or three coming up before the French. It's incredible to see what he's done. I guess I'm knocking on the door.”
   The 35-year-old Bryans, former Stanford All-Americans originally from Camarillo in the Los Angeles area, won their fifth straight title and extended their winning streak to 21 matches. Since losing to Australian Open runners-up Eric Butorac and Raven Klaasen in the Memphis final in February, the Bryans have won Delray Beach, Indian Wells, Miami and Houston in addition to Monte Carlo.
   The Bryans also won Monte Carlo in 2007, 2011 and 2012. In last year's final, they failed to convert seven match points and lost to Julien Benneteau and Nenad Zimonjic.
   Dodig and Melo lost to the Bryans in last year's Wimbledon final.

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