Bob and Mike Bryan celebrate their victory over Oliver Marach of Austria and Mate Pavic of Croatia at the ATP Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on April 22, 2018 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco.
Three-time Olympians Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan won their record sixth Monte-Carlo Masters doubles title, their 38th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title and their 116th trophy overall with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory over Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic on Sunday.
Australian Open champions Marach and Pavic (of Austria and Croatia, respectively) had a 5-3 tiebreak lead in the first set but the fourth-seeded Bryans got the next five points for the win. Just one week shy of their 40th birthday, the twins broke their opponents three times in the second set of a match that lasted 78 minutes.
The duo had to withstand match tiebreaks in three consecutive matches to reach Sunday’s final.
The Bryans also won the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2007, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.
This is the Bryan brothers’ second Masters 1000 title of the year after winning the Miami Masters three weeks ago. They are the winningest duo in the Open Era and have competed in the Olympic Games three times, winning bronze in Beijing in 2008 and gold in London in 2012 (they finished fifth in Athens in 2004). They also were named to the team for the Olympic Games Rio 2016 but withdrew prior to the start.
Their resume also includes 16 Grand Slam titles; however, the Bryans have not won a Grand Slam since the 2014 US Open, three times finishing runner-up since then, and are eager to earn another prestigious trophy later this year.
Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
