Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Mike Bryan team for mixed doubles title
Mike Bryan enjoyed a good day at Roland Garros, first reaching a sixth French Open doubles final with his twin brother Bob then taking the first trophy up for grabs at Roland Garros.
Teaming with fellow U.S. player Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Bryan won the mixed doubles title, beating Lucie Hradecka and Marcin Matkowski 7-6 (3), 6-1 on Thursday.
Mattek-Sands and Bryan hope they will play together at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics next year if they are selected in the U.S team.
''She has really improved a lot,'' Bryan said. ''Our chemistry was great from the first point on; it was not always smooth but she kept me in it.''
It was Bryan's fourth mixed doubles title at a Grand Slam tournament.
Mattek-Sands remained on course for a second title in Paris, too. She will play in the women's doubles semifinals on Friday with her friend Lucie Safarova, who also has a busy schedule and will be up against Serena Williams in the singles final.
''It's been a lot of fun, it's always fun to play with the guys,'' Mattek-Sands said. ''It was fun playing with Mike, he kept the energy out. That's part of it. Even if you're down, keeping the energy sometimes just wins you points.''
In the men's doubles, the top-seeded Bryans made the final by downing Italian duo Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-3.
They rallied from a break down in the first set and converted four of their five break points to edge the Australian Open champions in 59 minutes.
The 37-year-old brothers extended their record to 60-14 at Roland Garros, where they claimed the first of their 16 Grand Slam titles 12 years ago. They won again in Paris in 2013.
''Mike played a couple of clutch points at 4-3 in the second to get a crucial hold,'' Bob said. ''We're excited to be in another French Open final and will need to play at our best on Saturday to hold up the trophy.''
In the final, they will face third seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil, who beat fifth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Horia Tecau of Romania 6-3, 7-5.
''It will be a dog fight,'' Mike said.
