Victory Is Sweet! Bryans Reach Milestone In Vienna

The Bryan brothers recorded their team’s 1,000th match win Friday night at the Erste Bank Open 500, and afterwards celebrated the milestone by sharing a 75cm traditional Viennese Sacher Cake with fans.

“It’s big enough everyone could have a piece,” said Mike Bryan, following the on-court presentation by Vienna Tournament Director Herwig Straka and former Austrian No. 1 Thomas Muster.

“We’re happy to get 1,000 in Vienna,” said Mike. “This is going to be a special city for us until we die. And it’s good to see Thomas Muster, one of our idols, come out. That means a lot, we are honoured to have his presence on the court. We want to thank Herwig, the Tournament Director for having us here at Vienna, very special place, this court is pretty awesome and it’s great to see all the fans here come out. This is going to be very memorable forever for us.”

The Bryans prevailed against Pablo Cuevas and Viktor Troicki 6-4, 4-6, 10-7 to move into the Vienna semi-finals, where they will face Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.

“We’ve been looking at this number 1000 for a couple of years and it’s been a big goal of ours, to do it tonight in Vienna in front of all of you guys is amazing!”  Bob told the crowd. “We really appreciate the support, we really appreciate you guys staying for the doubles and giving us some love, and like Mike said this city will always have a place in our heart!

Earlier Friday, Barclays ATP World Tour Finals hopefuls Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin secured their place in the Vienna final by ousting top seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 1-6, 6-3, 11-9. Marach and Martin are No. 11 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London. Two places remain up for grabs in the elite eight-team field with just over a week to go in the regular season.

View Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London

Basel: Lindstedt/Venus Reach SFs

Robert Lindstedt and Michael Venus advanced to the semi-finals of the Swiss Indoors Basel after beating Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 6-4, 7-5. Klaasen/Ram are No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London and qualified Thursday for their first Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Lindstedt and Venus next face top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau for a place in the final, while second seeds Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin meet Marcel Granollers and Jack Sock in the other doubles semi-final.