Bryans eliminated from ATP Finals

   The end of Bryan brothers' Hall of Fame career is approaching.
   It could come next year for the 39-year-old former Stanford stars. But not now with Mike Bryan and Canada's Daniel Nestor tied for the most doubles match victories with 1,056.
   Fifth-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan ended another disappointing season with a 6-4, 6-4 loss to alternates Oliver Marach of Austria and Mate Pavic of Croatia today in the ATP Finals in London. Marach and Pavic replaced Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcel Granollers of Spain because of an undisclosed injury.
   The Bryans, who grew up in Camarillo in the Los Angeles area and now live in the tax haven of Florida, finished 1-2 in round-robin play. They have won the title four times, most recently in 2014.
   In Saturday's semifinals, top-seeded Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo of Brazil will face eighth-seeded Ryan Harrison of Austin, Texas, and Michael Venus of New Zealand, and second-seeded Henri Kontinen of Finland and John Peers of Australia will meet fourth-seeded Jamie Murray of Great Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil.
   Each semifinal team except Murray and Soares won a Grand Slam title this year. Kontinen and Peers, the defending champions in the ATP Finals, triumphed in the Australian Open. Harrison and Venus took the French Open crown, and Kubot and Melo prevailed at Wimbledon.
   Third-seeded Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania went 0-3 in the ATP Finals. They won the U.S. Open.
   The Bryans, owners of a record 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles, failed to win one for the third consecutive year. Their number of tour-level titles has declined in each of the last five years from 11 (tying their career high) to 10 to six to three to two. They have 112 overall.
   The Bryans led Stanford to NCAA team championships in both of their years there (1997-98). Bob Bryan won a rare Triple Crown in 1998, also claiming the NCAA singles and doubles titles (with Mike).