Third seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic reached the first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final of their careers on Saturday night when they defeated Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-6(4), 4-6 10-7 in one hour and 35 minutes at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.. Marach and Pavic have a 4-3 record in tour-level finals, including a 3-1 record this year, which started with a 17-match unbeaten run and three straight trophies at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open (d. J. Murray/Soares), the ASB Classic (d. Mirnyi/Oswald) and at the Australian Open, their first Grand Slam championship (d. Cabal/Farah). The duo also finished as runners up in the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament final (l. to Herbert/Mahut). Marach and Pavic took a 5-3...
There is no stopping Max Mirnyi, even at the age of 40. 'The Beast' captured his 52nd tour-level doubles title on Saturday evening at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship, teaming with Philipp Oswald. The Belarusian-Austrian duo rallied past Andre Begemann and Antonio Sancic 6-7(2), 6-4, 11/9 under the lights at the River Oaks Country Club. They captured their third team title and second of the year, having emerged with the trophy on the indoor hard courts of New York in February. "I'm definitely coming to the end of my career and I hope I have another go here next year," said Mirnyi. "It's my first title in Houston after all these years. I want to...
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan will turn 40 on 29 April. But the six-time Houston champions are showing no signs of slowing down. The Americans advanced to the semi-finals of the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship on Thursday, beating another team of brothers in Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski 4-6, 6-3, 10-6. The Bryans raised their level after dropping the first set. They didn't face a break point in the second set, and in the Match Tie-break, they won all three second-serve return points. The Bryans will next meet Max Mirnyi/Philipp Oswald, who squeezed past Scott Lipsky/Tennys Sandgren 6-7(4), 7-6(1), 11-9. [ALSO LIKE] It will mark the 55th time the Bryans have faced Mirnyi, who turned...
Leander Paes continues to span the sport’s generations, entertaining with the same youthful enthusiasm and passion that he first showcased 29 seasons ago. The evergreen Indian, a feisty competitor with a familar smile never far away, has today become the sixth player in ATP World Tour history (since 1973) to record 750 doubles match wins (750-433). It is perhaps apt, that the 44-year-old hit the milestone on Davis Cup duty by recording his 43rd doubles victory for India since his debut in March 1990, to break the long-standing team match wins record of Italy's Nicola Pietrangeli. In tandem with Rohan Bopanna, the duo has kept India in its Asia/Oceania Group I tie versus China on Saturday. Only five other players...
The season is only three months old, but there has been plenty of excitement on the doubles court with one team dominating early and a pair of legends showing that they may have another No. 1 push in them. Marach/Pavic Begin Year With Tremendous Winning Streak Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic just missed out on a spot in last year’s Nitto ATP Finals, serving as alternates in the event before stepping in to win their only match against Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, denying the twins a spot in the semi-finals. But Marach/Pavic showed early on this year that they have no intentions of serving as alternates at The O2 again — they want to qualify out right. The Austrian-Croatian...
