Bob and Mike Bryan have collected all the notable title in recent memory, and racked up over 100 overall career trophies between them. However, they have not won the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals since 2009, and looked to be struggling once again in 2014 after their campaign got off to a less than perfect start.

In their opening match in Group A, the Bryan brothers came up against eighth seeds and Australian Open champions Lukasz Kubot and Robert Lindstedt. The young pairing only needed 79 minutes to edge the American duo 7-6(3), 6-3 in the evening session on Monday. It was a surprising result, given that Kubot and Lindstedt only won 18 matches all season, while the Bryans were 60-10 heading into the WTF opener.

However, the top seeds refused to end their season prematurely and rebounded successfully on Wednesday morning to keep their hopes alive for a semi-final berth over the coming days. They rallied from a set down to defeat the pairing of Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 6-7(4), 6-3, 10-6. It marked their fourth straight victory over the Dutch-Romanian doubles team.

The Brothers needed to overcome significant difficulties in the second set, as it appeared that they would be eliminated from the tournament when they were down 1-3 in the second set. However, they recovered with their trademark grit and eventually edged out the victory when they won 10 of the last 12 points in the super tiebreak to the delight of the crowd in attendance.

The Bryans will meet Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares on Friday.