Saturday, November 21, 2015

Bryans' streak of year-end No. 1 rankings ends

Defending champions Bob Bryan, right, and Mike Bryan,
playing in Indian Wells in March, lost to Jean-Julien Rojer
and Horia Tecau 6-4, 6-4 today in the semifinals of the ATP
World Tour Finals in London. Photo by Paul Bauman 
   Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan's streak of year-end No. 1 doubles rankings ended at six with a 6-4, 6-4 loss to second-seeded Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania today in the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
   Rojer and Tecau clinched the top spot after defeating the 37-year-old Bryan twins, the defending and four-time champions, for the first time in six matches.
   Rojer and Tecau will meet eighth-seeded Rohan Bopanna of India and Florin Mergea of Romania in Sunday's final (7:30 a.m. PST, Tennis Channel), guaranteeing that a Romanian will win the doubles title for the first time.
   Bopanna and Mergea beat third-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 6-4, 6-2.
   The Bryans failed to win a Grand Slam men's doubles title this year for the first time since 2004. The former Stanford stars have won a record 16 Slams in men's doubles.
   In addition, Melo replaced the Bryans at No. 1 on Nov. 2. It was the first time since Sept. 9, 2012, that neither Bryan was ranked No. 1.
   In singles, No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic and No. 3 Roger Federer also advanced to Sunday's final (10 a.m., ESPN2) with straight-set victories.
   Djokovic, trying to become the first player to win four straight ATP Finals crowns, dismissed No. 5 Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-3.
   Federer, seeking his seventh ATP Finals title, topped Swiss countryman Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-3.
   Federer, 34, leads the 28-year-old Djokovic 22-21 in their head-to-head series. Federer ended Djokovic's winning streak at 23 matches on Tuesday with a 7-5, 6-2 victory in the round-robin phase of the ATP Finals.

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