Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan are closing in on equalling the all-time Grand Slam championship doubles titles’ record, currently held by Australia’s John Newcombe, who won 17 team majors during his career. The American twins are tied with Roy Emerson and Todd Woodbridge with 16 titles.
The American twins booked a spot in their 30th major championship final (16-13) and 10th Australian Open title match (6-3) on Thursday after the third seeds hit 31 winners past Spaniards Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in a 7-6(1), 6-3 victory over 90 minutes.
The Bryans will now meet fourth seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers in Saturday’s doubles final. Kontinen and Peers beat the Bryans 7-6(2), 6-4 in the semi-finals of the 2016 ATP Finals at The O2 in London, which they went on to win.
Kontinen and Peers ended the giant-killing run of Melbourne-based wild cards Marc Polmans and Andrew Whittington 6-4, 6-4 in 77 minutes. The Finnish-Australian tandem committed just eight unforced errors and won 35 of their 41 first service points.
“It was great to make our first [Grand Slam] final here together in Australia,” said Peers. “It means a lot to me being in Australia. The next match is going to be another tough one, so hopefully we can repeat that performance.”