Experience and style prevailed over power and youth on Saturday in the Miami Open presented by Itau doubles final.
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, playing in their 172nd doubles title match as team, beat Russians Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-4.
The 39-year-old Bryan twins captured their fifth Miami title, their 37th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown and their 115th tour-level championship as a team. It's their biggest title since 2016 Rome and their first tour-level crown since 2017 Atlanta.
Khachanov, 21, and Rublev, 20, were playing in their first doubles final as a team. Early on, it looked as if the Russians had enough force and fearlessness to knock off the American greats, who were playing in a Masters 1000 final on home soil for the second time this month (Indian Wells, l. to Isner/Sock).
Khachanov/Rublev broke in the opening game when Rublev smashed a forehand into the open court, and on their third set point, another forehand, this one from Khachanov, gave them a one-set lead.
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The Russians were content to tee off from the baseline, whereas the Bryans tried to smother the net and make the Russians hit past them – or through them.
In the second set, the teams traded breaks until Mike Bryan closed out the tie-break with a well-placed first serve down the T. During the Match Tie-break, five first serves and the crowd, with chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” carried the Bryans to victory, their first title in nine months.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2pTLwW6
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