Bryans Clinch 70th Team Title With Second Monte-Carlo Win

© Getty ImagesThe Bryans won their 18th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title.

World No. 1 duo Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan clinched their 70th tour-level team title on Sunday as they won the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters title for a second time with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over unseeded South American pairing Juan Ignacio Chela and Bruno Soares.

Of their 70 titles together, 18 have come at the elite ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level, placing them joint second with Todd Woodbridge on the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 doubles title leaders list (since 1990). Daniel Nestor leads the way with 24 of the coveted titles.

The Americans were contesting the final at the Monte-Carlo Country Club for the fourth time. They also won the title in 2007 (d. Benneteau-Gasquet) and finished runners-up in 2005 (l. to Paes-Zimonjic) and 2009 (l. to Nestor-Zimonjic).

“It feels great to win title No. 70, but even better to beat an experienced clay-court team in one of our favourite tournaments of the year,” said Bob Bryan. “Thanks to Prince Albert for staying to watch the doubles final, we really appreciate it.”

Mike Bryan added, “We’re very happy to play so well in Monte-Carlo; it’s been a while since we’ve won here. We’re feeling really good on the clay and we’re looking forward to the rest of the clay-court season.”

Victory brought the Bryans their third tour-level title of the season and their second in as many weeks. They won their 10th Grand Slam championship at the Australian Open (d. Bhupathi-Paes) in January and opened their clay-court campaign last week with success in Houston (d. Isner-Querrey).

Chela and Soares, who upset two seeded teams en route to the final, made the better start to the match, breaking to lead 2-1. But the South Americans had no chance to build on their lead as the Bryans quickly levelled and broke serve again in the seventh game to take a one-set lead. Capitalising on their momentum, the Bryans swiftly opened up a 2-0 lead in the second set and went on to close out victory on Mike Bryan’s serve, after saving three break points, in 54 minutes.

“There was a lot of crazy points out there,” reflected Bob Bryan. “I think the fans had a good time because there was a lot of contrast of styles – baseline points, big serves, drop volleys. I just felt like we were having fun and when we’re having fun we play our best tennis.

Chela and Soares were both contesting their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals. The 31-year-old Chela dropped to a 3-3 record in ATP World Tour doubles finals, while the 29-year-old Soares slipped to a 5-7 mark.

In his runner-up speech, Soares said, “First of all I want to thank my partner, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It’s a great honour to play the finals here in Monte-Carlo against the No. 1 team in the world.”