Top-seeded Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo of Brazil beat fifth-seeded Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 6-4, 6-3 today in a round-robin match at the ATP Finals in London.
Kubot and the 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) Melo, this year's Wimbledon champions, improved to 2-0 in the Woodbridge-Woodforde group to clinch a berth in Saturday's semifinals.
The 39-year-old Bryan twins, four-time champions, fell to 1-1. To advance, the ex-Stanford stars must defeat seventh-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcel Granollers of Spain on Friday, and Kubot and Melo must beat fourth-seeded Jamie Murray of Great Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil.
Murray and Soares routed Dodig and Granollers 6-1, 6-1 to improve to 1-1 in the tournament featuring the top eight teams of the year. Dodig and Granollers are 0-2.
French Open champs Ryan Harrison of Austin, Texas, and Michael Venus of New Zealand lead the Eltingh-Haarhuis group at 2-0.
The Bryans won the ATP Finals in 2003 and 2004 in Houston and 2009 and 2014 in London. They have won a record 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles but none since the 2014 U.S. Open.
The Bryans grew up in Camarillo in the Los Angeles area and now live in Florida.
Veteran journalist Paul Bauman, based in Sacramento, covers Northern California professional, collegiate and junior tennis. Contact him at norcaltennisczar@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @norcaltenczar.
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