Home
Phil James

Jamie Murray and John Peers beat the Bryan brothers to take Houston title

Phil James
Phil JamesTennis

By Philip James

Jamie Murray/John Peers def Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan 1-6, 7-6(3), 12-10

Jamie Murray claimed his first ATP title since 2011, with a wonderful upset win over the world number one team of Bob and Mike Bryan, in Houston on Saturday.

The triumph at the ATP 250 US Men’s Clay Court Championship brings Murray his eighth doubles title and his first on clay.

 

 

 

Murray and his partner, Australian John Peers, had to bounce back from a crushing first set where the Bryans settled the quicker and won 64% of the points.

The Americans punished the second serve and took both of the break points they created while saving the three of their own, to take the set 6-1.

But Murray and Peers, ranked 84th and 70th in the world respectively, dug in in the second set, improving on serve and saving all four break points they faced.

They created no break points themselves, but held on to take the set to a tie-break where they won seven straight points to take it to 3 and level the match.

The world number ones had held their serve with relative ease throughout the second set, but suddenly the match was all square and to be decided by a Champions Tie-break.

In the third-set decider Murray had Peers saved a match point before they converted the second of their own to win it 12-10 and with it the match in an hour and 25 minutes.

It was Murray and Peers’ best result in six tournaments together, which included a semi-final in Montpellier ATP250 in February, but also a first round exit at the Leon Challenger in Mexico last week.

The triumph is put in perspective by the rank and form of their opponents; this was Bob and Mike’s fifth ATP tour final of the year and they have won the other four.

Their tour win-loss record for the season is so far is 20-4, they are joint top of the doubles rankings and as a team they are amazing 2225 points clear in the team rankings.

In an impressive week, Murray and Peers also beat singles draw top seed and finalist Nicolas Almagro and Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo in the semis and forth seeds Jonathan Erlich and Eric Butorac, Murray’s old partner, in the quarters.

Murray and Butorac won three titles together in 2007, the same year Murray won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with Jelena Janković.

Since their split Murray has played with a multitude of partners, never really settling and has not consistently reached the same heights.

His last titles came in late 2011 when he won the Tokyo and Metz titles with his brother Andy and Andre Sa respectively.