This year’s Wimbledon and US Open doubles champion Mike Bryan and Jack Sock overcame world number 1 doubles team formed by Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 6-4 7-6 (7-4) to move to 2-0 in Group Knowles/Nestor at the Nitto ATP Finals after 83 minutes qualifying for the semifinal.
The US doubles team won two back-to-back Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon and at the US Open. They improved their win-loss record to 18-5 in their eighth doubles tournament as a team.
The first set went on serve in the first eight games, before Bryan and Sock earned three break points at 0-40. Marach and Pavic forced the game to deuce, but Bryan and Sock earned the only break in the 10th game on the deciding point to seal the first set 6-4.
Bryan and Sock got the second break of the match in the third game of the second set. Marach and Pavic broke back in the 10th game, when Sock made back-to-back errors, as Bryan was serving for the match at 5-4.
Marach and Pavic fended off two break points in the 11th game to force a tie-break. Bryan and Sock reeled off three consecutive points at 4-4 to seal the tie-break 7-4 on their first match point after 1 hour and 23 minutes. The US players won 85 % of their first serve points.
Marach and Pavic won four titles and reached five more finals and have already secured the world number 1 spot in the ATP Doubles Ranking at the end of the season.
The French doubles team formed by Pierre Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut beat 2017 Wimbledon champions Lukasz Kubot from Poland and Marcelo Melo from Brazil 6-2 6-4 to move up to 1-1 in the Group Knowles/Nestor. Herbert and Mahut won 62% of their second-serve points.
Herbert and Mahut went up a break in the first game after a double fault from Melo. They went up a double break on the deciding point in the fifth game before serving out the first set at love after 29 minutes. The French players got an immediate break in the first game of the second set with a forehand winner and did not face any break points in the next games to serve out the match at love after 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Bryan and Sock will face Herbert and Mahut on Friday, while Marach and Pavic will take on Kubot and Melo.
