Ex-Stanford stars win titles in Paris, Australia

Mike, left, and Bob Bryan became the first players in singles or doubles to win six
Masters 1000 titles on the ATP World Tour in one season. File photo by Paul Bauman

   It was a big day for former Stanford men's stars.
   Bob and Mike Bryan set another doubles record on Sunday, and Bradley Klahn won another Challenger singles title.
   The top-seeded Bryans became the first players in singles or doubles to win six Masters 1000 crowns on the ATP World Tour in one season, edging unseeded Marcin Matkowski of Poland and Jurgen Melzer of Austria 7-6 (5), 5-7 [10-6] in the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. 
   The 36-year-old identical twins also won titles at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Cincinnati and Shanghai, in addition to the U.S. Open and ATP 250 tournaments in Delray Beach and Houston.
   The Bryans have won 102 career ATP titles, including 32 Masters 1000s and four in the Paris indoors. Masters 1000s are the highest level in men's professional tennis other than the Grand Slams.

Bradley Klahn, shown in last month's
Tiburon Challenger, captured the title
in Traralgon, Australia. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   The Bryans will try to win the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which begin Sunday in London, for the fourth time.
   The natives of Camarillo in the Los Angeles area led Stanford to NCAA team championships in their two years on the Farm, 1997 and 1998. Bob Bryan pulled off a rare Triple Crown as a sophomore, winning the NCAA singles and doubles crowns (with Mike) in addition to the team title.
   Matkowski and Melzer played together for the first time in Paris.
   The second-seeded Klahn won his third Challenger singles crown of the year and fifth overall, beating unseeded U.S. countryman Jarmere Jenkins 7-6 (5), 6-1 in the $50,000 Traralgon (Australia) Challenger.
   Klahn, a 24-year-old left-hander from Poway in the San Diego area, underwent surgery for a herniated disc three years ago as a Stanford junior. He missed two months this spring when his back flared up and five weeks in the summer with a foot sprain.
   Jenkins, 23, of Coconut Creek, Fla., knocked off No. 1 seed Go Soeda of Japan, No. 4 Hiroki Moriya of Japan and No. 5 Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia en route to the Traralgon final.
   Both Klahn and Jenkins are former NCAA champions with college degrees.
   Klahn won the 2010 singles title as a sophomore and graduated in economics in 2012.
   In 2013, Jenkins led Virginia to its first NCAA team championship, reached the singles final and won the doubles crown with Mac Styslinger.
   Jenkins earned an anthropology degree but could not attend commencement because it conflicted with the NCAA Tournament.