Bryan Brothers Rebound To Reach US Open QF
For the second time in three matches, five-time champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have had to go the distance to keep the US Open campaign alive. Now the No. 5 seeds are through to the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows for the 12th time after rebounding to defeat No. 9 seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic.
The Bryans recovered from a slow start to prevail 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 against the Austrian-Croatian duo. Marach and Pavic, who had fallen in a gruelling Wimbledon final to Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo 13-11 in the fifth set, had come out firing.
"We dug deep today and it really came down to a few break points. We were pretty solid on our serves and made some good volleys. Just played solid doubles,” Mike Bryan said. “The crowd was on fire too. They were pulling us through. It's always fun playing on Grandstand and the energy is off the charts.
“If we were in another tournament, it could have been tougher to turn it around. But today we had a lot of people willing us through. So it was easier to bear down and focus … We needed to win the big points, because they have been hot since the grass season.”
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The Bryans will next face unseeded Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin for a place in the last four. The Frenchmen ended the run of #NextGenATP Russians Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-2. It followed their earlier upset of No. 2 seeds Kubot and Melo.
Top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers continued their smooth progression through the draw with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Juan Sebastian Cabel and Leonardo Mayer. The win ensured the Finnish-Australian pair have qualified for a chance at defending their Nitto ATP Finals title in London. Kontinen and Peers are through to their first US Open quarter-final where they will take on the unseeded Australian-American duo of John-Patrick Smith and Nicholas Monroe.
Fourth seeds Bruno Soares, of Brazil, and Jamie Murray, of Great Britain, took down Swedish-Australian pair Robert Lindstedt and Jordan Thompson 6-3, 6-4 to set a quarter-final clash with 12th seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.