Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have accomplished countless feats throughout their careers. They have won a record 38 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles and lifted 116 tour-level trophies together. But at the Mutua Madrid Open on Friday, the brothers continued their pursuit of even more history.
The second seeds battled through a tough quarter-final to oust No. 5 seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 6-4, 6-7(4), 10-7, advancing to the semi-finals in Madrid for the ninth time. But furthermore, they kept alive their hopes of becoming the oldest No. 1-ranked players in the ATP Doubles Rankings on Monday.
If the 40-year-old Americans go on to win their third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title of the year, Bryan/Bryan will become the oldest doubles No. 1s in history. The brothers will be 40 years, 15 days old on Monday. The player who currently holds the record, Canadian Daniel Nestor, was 40 years, 5 days old on his last day as World No. 1 (9 September 2012).
Murray and Soares, who had previously beaten the Bryan brothers twice in six FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, did not go down without battling. Murray attempted to cause a ruckus at net, constantly looking to poach. But in the key moments, the Americans — who have lifted the trophy in Madrid five times — were too solid, showing incredible hands at the net while placing key returns to their opponents' feet.
They will face another tough test in the semi-finals against No. 4 seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. The Frenchmen beat Australian Open semi-finalists Ben McLachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff 6-2, 6-3 in 55 minutes. Herbert/Mahut have won all five of their FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against Bryan/Bryan.
On the other half of the draw, 2013 runner-up Alexander Peya and his partner, Nikola Mektic, a Madrid debutant, defeated Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus 6-7(4), 6-3, 10-8. Mektic/Peya have shown good form lately, reaching the final in two of their past three events. The Croatian-Austrian duo won Marrakech, and then finished runner-up last week in Munich. They will face No. 6 seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who knocked out top seeds Kubot and Melo 6-4, 2-6, 10-8. Kubot/Melo could have guaranteed they would remain atop the ATP Doubles Rankings on Monday if they reached the final.
