Rojer/Tecau Stun Top Seeds To Reach First US Open Final

Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau are on a roll at this year’s US Open. The 12th seeds narrowly edged top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers on Thursday to reach their second Grand Slam final together as a team.

The Dutch-Romanian pair’s 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 triumph follows a quarter-final upset of No. 4 seeds and defending champions Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares. Rojer and Tecau, who won the Wimbledon crown in 2015, came into New York on the back of winning their third title of the season in Winston-Salem (d. Peralta/Zeballos).

Kontinen and Peers had not dropped a set at this year’s US Open before their semi-final. And the Finnish-Australian duo could have risen to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race to London, had they gone on to win the title.

Rojer and Tecau have now won 18 of 20 sets since 21 August and will face 11th-seeded duo Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez for the title. The Spaniards ended Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan’s bid for a sixth US Open title, dropping their first set of the tournament in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

In a rematch of their 2016 US Open quarter-final, it was again Lopez and Lopez who gained the better of the American twins. The Spaniards also defeated them in the 2016 Roland Garros final, but lost to them last month at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.

Mike Bryan broke a tie with Daniel Nestor on Tuesday to become the doubles player with the most match wins in the Open Era. A win would have extended that tally to 1,053.