Brian Baker of the U.S. and Nikola Mektic of Croatia kicked off their grass-court season with success on Tuesday, beating Frenchmen Lucas Pouille and Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-3 to move into the quarter-finals of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart. Baker and Mektic, champions on the indoor hard courts in Memphis and the outdoor clay courts of Budapest already this season, won 82 per cent of their first-serve points to advance in 64 minutes. [ALSO LIKE] They will next face second seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, who advanced by walkover. Treat Huey and Robert Lindstedt had to withdraw because of a back problem for Huey, and no alternate doubles team was available to take their place. In other doubles action,...
Brian Baker celebrated his 32nd birthday in style, claiming the doubles title at the inaugural Gazprom Hungarian Open alongside Nikola Mektic. Baker and Mektic prevailed 7-6(2), 6-4 over Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in Budapest, needing one hour and 27 minutes to secure their second team title on the ATP World Tour. Also the champions at the Memphis Open in February, they improved to 2-0 in tour-level finals together. The fourth seeds were ruthless on serve, dropping just 17 of 65 points in the final encounter. They took the first set in a tie-break and broke immediately at love to open the second, before eventually emerging victorious on their second match point. "I couldn't have asked for a better...
Brian Baker and Nikola Mektic picked up their first ATP World Tour titles on Sunday at the Memphis Open, defeating Americans Ryan Harrison and Steve Johnson 6-3, 6-4. “You’re going to be super pumped anytime you can win an ATP title, but to win one so close to home is really special,” said Baker. “Nikola and I have had instant chemistry so far, so hopefully we can keep it going.” The American-Croatian duo scored an immediate break of serve in their opening return game and rode that momentum to the opening set. Harrison/Johnson fought valiantly from 1-3 down in the second set to even the score at 3-3, but Baker/Mektic secured another break at 4-4 and converted on their first...
You’re 20-0, five straight Challenger titles through 2016. How much of it has been you and how much of it has been your partners or even luck? I think it’s always a team effort. I’ve been fortunate to play with good partners every week, Ryan Harrison, Sam Groth twice, Matt Reid and Mackenzie McDonald. It’s been a really fun year in doubles. I still haven’t found my stride yet in singles, but I look to keep playing more doubles next year and hopefully keep getting my [Emirates ATP Doubles] ranking up because I don’t have a point coming off until Savannah. With scoring in doubles, things can get away from you with a bad give minutes. What does that say...