Bryans Top Defending Champs Melzer-Petzschner

© Getty ImagesThe Bryans defeated defending champions Melzer-Petzschner to reach their eighth semi-final at Wimbledon.

World No. 1 doubles team Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan knocked out defending Wimbledon champions Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of The Championships on Thursday, while eighth seeds Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau booked their place in the final for the second year in a row.

By defeating Melzer-Petzschner, the Bryans advanced into the semi-finals at the All England Club for the eighth time. "We have a lot of respect for Jurgen and Philipp and knew we had to play at our best to get through," Bob Bryan told ATPWorldTour.com. "They are great champions and we'll hopefully have many more duels with them in big matches."

The top seeds, winners of 10 Grand Slam titles, are looking to win their second trophy at SW19, having claimed the title in 2006. They’ve appeared in the final at Wimbledon in four of the past seven seasons, having finished as the runners-up in 2005, 2007 and 2009. The No. 1 seeds can tie Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde for the most Grand Slam team titles should they finish as the last team standing on Saturday. "Wimbledon is a very special tournament for so many reasons and we are happy be around in the later stages of the event. Hopefully we'll keep improving with each match and will have a chance to play for the title on Saturday," said Bob Bryan.

The 33-year-old Americans are riding an eight-match winning streak on grass, having won the AEGON Championships at the Queen’s Club earlier in June (d. Bhupathi-Paes). On Wednesday, the Camarillo, Calif. natives survived an epic five set match against Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley, squeaking out the final set 16-14.

Melzer and Petzschner, who made an incredible run last year as an unseeded duo to win the title, came into this year’s event as the No. 5 seeds, and are currently ranked ninth in the 2011 ATP Doubles Team Rankings. Thursday’s loss to the Bryans saw the pairing drop to 0-4 against the Americans, having also fallen to the twins in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in January; the Americans would go on to win their fifth crown at Melbourne Park.

In the semi-finals, the Bryans will square off against sixth-seeded Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic, who edged unseeded James Cerretani and Philipp Marx 6-7(3), 7-6(7), 7-6(5), 7-5. Both Llodra and Zimonjic are former champions at the event; Llodra teamed up with Arnaud Clement to win the 2007 title over the Bryans, and Zimonjic won back-to-back titles with Daniel Nestor in 2008 and 2009.

Lindstedt and Tecau defeated Christopher Kas and Alexander Peya 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-2 to reach their second straight Wimbledon final. The Swedish-Romanian combination will contest their ninth final together, having claimed four titles in 2010 and one this year at Casablanca. They entered The Championships with a runner-up finish at the grass court event in 's-Hertogenbosch (l. to Bracciali-Cermak).

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