Sunday, November 27, 2011

Bryans ousted; Federer eyes record in ATP Finals

   The Bryan brothers' hopes of winning their fourth doubles title in the ATP World Tour Finals were dashed.
   But Roger Federer is on track for his record sixth singles crown in the tournament.
   Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, former Stanford All-Americans, ended their year with a 7-6 (6), 6-4 loss to third-seeded Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor in Saturday's semifinals. The fourth-seeded Federer defeated fifth-seeded David Ferrer 7-5, 6-3 for his 16th straight victory.
   The Bryans -- who won the tournament in 2003, 2004 and 2009 -- went 60-16 this year. The 33-year-old twins captured eight titles, including Wimbledon and the Australian Open. With 11 Grand Slam men's doubles championships overall, the Bryans are tied with International Tennis Hall of Famers Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde for the Open Era record.
   Federer, 30, became the fifth player to reach at least 100 finals in the Open Era. He joined Jimmy Connors (163), Ivan Lendl (146), John McEnroe (108) and Guillermo Vilas (104).
   Federer also tied his idol, Stefan Edberg, for sixth place with his 806th career victory and assured he will rise one spot to No. 3 in the year-end world rankings.
   In today's finals, Mirnyi and Nestor will face eighth-seeded Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski at 7:30 a.m. PST, and Federer will meet sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at 9:30 a.m. The matches will be televised live on Tennis Channel and ESPN2, respectively.
   Fyrstenberg and Matkowski edged fourth-seeded Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 tiebreak, and Tsonga downed seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5. 
   Federer, who seeks his 70th career title, is tied with Lendl and Pete Sampras with five singles titles in the ATP World Tour Finals.

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