Bryan Brothers edge Granollers/Lopez to capture title – Rogers Cup 2012
American twins, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, captured their fourth Rogers Cup title by toppling the pair of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez of Spain in a hard-fought final on Sunday.
The second seeds won the first set easily, dropped the second one and then saved a match point in the super tie-breaker to win 6-1, 4-6, 12-10.
The Bryans had a flying start to the match, as they grabbed first three games to race to a 3-0 advantage. Granollers and Lopez held their serve in the fourth game to open their account and reduce the trail to 1-3 but it was all
Bryan show again after that, as they snatched three in a row to win 6-1.
It looked like the American duo will finish the contest quickly, as Bob and Mike pulled a break in the opening game of the second set and won their subsequent serve to attain a 2-0 lead. However, their Spanish rivals were not willing
to go down easily, striking back in the sixth to even out the proceedings at 3-3. Serving to stay in the set at 4-5, Bryans could not hold and lost it 4-6.
In the match tie-breaker, Bryans drew the first blood, as they earned an early mini-break to move ahead 4-2. They kept their lead for a short period but then Granollers and Lopez bounced back to equalise the score at 7-7. The Spanish
tandem got a match point at 9-8 but failed to convert it. Bob and Mike took full advantage of the life line and won four of the following five points to claim it 12-10.
Talking to the reporters after the match, Mike said, “It came down to the wire there at the end. We were down match point; could have gone either way. Maybe we're still riding high from the Olympics and we feel good. We always
play better when we're happy. Right now we feel like even though it gets sticky and tough, we've been winning all the big points for the last couple weeks; we did the same today.”
Just under 10 days ago, Bryans captured Gold Medal in the doubles event of London Olympics.
Bob added about their team’s strategy, “We had to switch up our strategy a little bit towards the end, but I thought we played a pretty good match. We had the momentum big time at the beginning of the match.”
With this win, Bob and Mike also qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals, which takes place at the end of season in London.
Tags: