Bob and Mike Bryan will play in Madrid against Alexander Peya and Nikola Mektic not only for their sixth local victory, but also for a return to the top of the double world rankings.
The organisers of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament have given themselves three hours to complete the double final: At 3:30 pm Bob and Mike Bryan will play Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya on the Manolo Santana – trying to win the event in the Spanish capital for the sixth time. Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem are not expected before 6:30 pm.
By the way, the last time the Bryans managed the big coup in Madrid, Peya was also on the other side of the net: 2013 next to Bruno Soares. The Austrian veteran plays an excellent season, after winning the semi-final against Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, Peya/Mektic have 14 wins in the current campaign. And only four defeats, the last one exactly a week ago in the Munich final against Ivan Dodig and Rajeev Ram.
However, Bob and Mike Bryan attract more attention in Madrid – they could climb back to the top of the ATP double world rankings with a win in the final. As the oldest couple in tennis history. But the two Americans would also be older than Canadian veteran Daniel Nestor as lone fighters. He had led the double charts at the age of 40 years and five days.
How well things are going for Bryan/Bryan at the moment is underlined by the result of the semi-final: for the first time the twins managed to beat Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert in a five defeats against the two Frenchmen.
Here is the double tableau in Madrid