Marach/Martin Pip Bryans For Delray Beach Title

Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin saved six match points to see off top seeds and defending champions Bob and Mike Bryan at the Delray Beach Open on Sunday. The Austrian/French duo improved to 11-3 since joining forces at the start of 2016 and doubled their team title haul with the win (Chennai). Individually, it was Marach’s 15th doubles title and Martin’s second.

“It was a big honour to play against [the Bryans] in the final,” said Marach during the on-court trophy ceremony. “Fabrice and I have a great relationship. We only started playing together recently but I hope we continue and win some more tournaments this year.”

“We always thought we had nothing to lose,” Martin said. “We knew we were going to make it a good match. We give it everything we had, and we got a bit lucky in the end.”

Marach and Martin saved a match point late in the second set before surviving five more in the Match Tie-break against the four-time champions, who came into the final with a 21-4 record in Delray.

The Bryan brothers were aiming for a record 110^th tour-level title and their first since winning in the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Montreal last summer. They fell despite not being broken in the final.

“It hurts,” Mike Bryan said. “We’ll probably have a sleepless night, thinking about what we could have done differently, but that’s doubles. It’s a fine line.

“David Cup will be big,” added Bryan, who is looking forward to the rest of the early season. “Then we’ll head down to Indian Wells and Miami, and hopefully kick off the year with a win over there.”

The winning team will share 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and $27,835, while the finalists will receive 150 points and $14,630.

“We will see you next year,” Bryan told the crowd after accepting the finalist’s trophy. “It’s official, we will be back.”