Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan ended their final Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com campaign in familiar fashion on Sunday, lifting the trophy for a record-extending sixth time after a 3-6, 7-5, 10-5 victory against Luke Bambridge and Ben McLachlan.

The top seeds, who will retire following this year’s US Open, broke serve late in the second set and charged to victory in the Match Tie-break after 82 minutes. Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan claimed each of their three tournament victories in Match Tie-breaks this week.

“It’s amazing to win this title again in our back yard,” said Bob Bryan. “I have been staying at home and I got so much friends and family here. They kept us fighting and they kept us focused. Those are the people that have your back.”

In an interesting tactical change, the brothers switched sides in the opening set with Mike Bryan playing in the deuce court and Bob Bryan in the Ad court. After losing the opening set, the defending champions reverted to their traditional sides before claiming the trophy.

This is the third time that Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have won back-to-back titles in Delray Beach. The American twins also lifted the ATP 250 trophy in 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015 and 2019.

“We were down most of the match. The other team was outplaying us for over an hour,” said Bob Bryan. “Had it been any other place, it would have been easy to lay down. But here, they kept us in it until we got a little bit of luck.”

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have now won six tour-level events on six occasions as a team. The 41-year-old brothers also own six team crowns in Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Monte-Carlo and at the Australian Open.

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan own 119 doubles titles from 178 tour-level finals as a pairing. The twins have now won at least one ATP Tour title as a team for 20 consecutive years.

“It’s cool [to win an ATP Tour title in 20 consecutive seasons]. It makes us feel old, but it makes us feel great that we can win and be this consistent over 20 years,” said Mike Bryan. “It feels like we are unscathed here, we won our last match in the city. We are always going to have pretty awesome memories coming to Delray.”

On Tuesday night, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan collected another prize at this event. To mark their 13th and final appearance in Delray Beach, the Florida residents were awarded the key to the city in honour of their positive impact on the tournament.

Bambridge and McLachlan were attempting to collect their second team title of the season. The British-Japanese pairing earned its maiden ATP Tour crown at last month’s ASB Classic in Auckland. Bambridge and McLachlan were competing in their second match of the day, after Saturday rain forced their semi-final match to be played on Sunday morning.

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan receive 250 FedEx ATP Doubles Ranking points and split $34,100 in prize money. Bambridge and McLachlan gain 150 points and share $17,480.

Third seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos won their third ATP Tour team title on Sunday, triumphing at the Rio Open presented by Claro with a 6-4, 5-7, 10-7 victory against Salvatore Caruso and Federico Gaio.

Granollers and Zeballos needed to win two matches on Sunday due to rain on Saturday, and they also defeated home favorites Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves and Thiago Monteiro 7-6(6), 6-4 in the semi-finals. In the championship match, they trailed 4/7 in the Match Tie-break before winning six consecutive points to win the trophy.

The biggest moment of the match came at 7/7, when Caruso and Gaio charged the net and appeared to be impassable, sending volley after volley back to the third seeds. But Granollers hit a perfect backhand lob off his back foot to pull his team ahead, and they’d never relinquish that lead. It is the second team title of the season for Granollers and Zeballos, who also were victorious in Buenos Aires.

The Spaniard and Argentine split $114,200 and each earn 500 ATP Doubles Ranking points. They have proven a tough duo since debuting at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal last year, winning that ATP Masters 1000 event. This is Granollers’ 20th tour-level doubles crown, and Zeballos’ 15th.

Caruso and Gaio fell just short of completing a dream week. The Italian qualifiers stunned second seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo 6-3, 3-6, 10-4 in the semi-finals. They had never previously played together on the ATP Tour (6-8 at ATP Challenger Tour events), and only Gaio owned a tour-level doubles victory, and only one at that.

Caruso and Gaio claim 300 points each and they will share $55,900 for their efforts.

Making his first appearance at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships since 2016, four-time champion Novak Djokovic arrives at the ATP 500 event on a 13-match unbeaten streak in 2020.

The 32-year-old will be competing on the ATP Tour for the first time since reclaiming the World No. 1 FedEx ATP Ranking from rival Rafael Nadal, following success with Team Serbia at the inaugural ATP Cup and a record-extending eighth title run at the Australian Open last month.

“I missed it. I haven’t played here for [four] years and I look forward to getting out on the court,” said Djokovic. “I started off the season in the best possible way in Australia and I am hoping I can continue that streak this week in Dubai.”

When first-round opponent Malek Jaziri attended this year’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships draw, the wild card was hoping for a low-key start to an event where he has faced Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Grigor Dimitrov in the early stages during four of his six-main draw appearances.

“Hopefully this year the draw will be good for me,” said Jaziri on Saturday. “Usually I play a seeded [player] always here. I’ve played Roger, I’ve played Novak, I’ve played Andy. I played Grigor as well two years ago.” 

It was not only Jaziri and fellow draw attendees Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev who saw the funny side of the Tunisian’s latest unlucky draw experience at the ATP 500 event. Djokovic also shared his thoughts on the unlikely sequence of events, as he looks to capture his first title in Dubai since 2013.

“We get along very well. He is a super nice guy and we train a lot,” said Djokovic. “It is unfortunate. It is very odd that that happened, in terms of the draw, but he is a very talented player and he is very experienced as well. He has played many years on the Tour.”

Djokovic’s last victory in Dubai came against Jaziri en route to the quarter-finals in 2016, but the World No. 1 is well aware of the threat the 36-year-old poses in high-profile matches.

In Jaziri’s last appearance in Dubai two years ago, the Tunisian upset Dimitrov and Stefanos Tsitsipas to make it through to his maiden ATP 500 semi-final. In the same year, Jaziri also beat Alexander Zverev at ATP 500-level in Beijing.

“He upset Zverev [two years ago] in China, so he doesn’t feel much pressure playing on the centre courts of the big tournaments,” said Djokovic. “I have got to approach that very seriously and try to bring my best game, because my first match after several weeks of a break is tricky. You have to approach it seriously.”

Reilly Opelka saved one match point in a second-set tie-break on Sunday before rallying to reach the final of the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com with a 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3 win against former World No. 3 Milos Raonic. This semi-final was delayed from Saturday evening due to rain.

Opelka will face Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka later in the day for the title. Both men own one ATP Tour title, but Opelka leads their ATP Head2Head series 1-0, defeating the lefty in straight sets last week at the New York Open.

Watch Incredible Opelka Passing Shot:

Opelka let slip a 5/0 advantage in the second-set tie-break, losing six consecutive points. But he erased the only match point he faced with a booming ace down the T. The 22-year-old crushed 19 aces in the match to Raonic’s 16, triumphing after two hours and seven minutes. 

That wasn’t the only tough moment for Opelka. After winning all 37 of his service games to reach the final, he hit back-to-back double faults in the first game of the semi-final to hand Raonic the early advantage. The Canadian, who was trying to reach his first ATP Tour final since 2018 Stuttgart, took full advantage.

Raonic won 89 per cent of his first-serve points in the opener to cruise to within one set of the final. But the big-serving Opelka hung around in the second set — in which he hit 11 aces — to battle to a decider.

After not breaking Raonic’s serve in the 29-year-old’s first 14 service games, Opelka won back-to-back return games to reach his second ATP Tour final. He will try to become the fourth American champion in Delray Beach in the past five years. Moldovan Radu Albot was victorious last year at this ATP 250.

Did You Know?
In just a few hours, Opelka will transition from facing a 6’5″ opponent in Raonic to a 5’7″ player in Nishioka.

Chilean Cristian Garin won a personal-best eighth consecutive match on Sunday afternoon, finishing off a 6-4, 7-5 win against fifth seed Borna Coric to reach the final of the Rio Open presented by Claro.

The third seed slept on a 6-4, 4-4 advantage, with rain suspending play. Garin wasted little time completing his victory, needing just four games on Sunday to reach his fifth ATP Tour final (3-1). All five of the 23-year-old’s tour-level championship matches have come in the past year.

Garin faced a break point in the first game of the resumption, but he was able to maintain his poise and advance after one hour and 44 minutes.

The Chilean may have experienced deja vu. Last year at the Libema Open, Coric saved one match point before defeating Garin in their only previous ATP Head2Head meeting. In Rio de Janeiro, serving at 5-6, Coric saved match point when he hit a big serve out wide and followed it up with a big forehand swinging volley into the open court. Garin got to the ball in time, but missed his forehand passing shot down the line wide by a couple of feet.

Garin remained undeterred, though. He earned his first victory against the Croatian when Coric missed a forehand into the net.

The recent Cordoba Open champion will face Italian qualifier Gianluca Mager or Hungarian lucky loser Attila Balazs in the final. Those men are currently in the third set of their semi-final, which was also suspended Saturday evening due to rain.

Stefanos Tsitsipas claimed back-to-back titles at an ATP Tour event for the first time on Sunday, beating Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-4 to lift his second Open 13 Provence trophy in Marseille.

Tsitsipas broke serve on three occasions and saved four of five break points to take the title in 86 minutes. After losing his opening two ATP Head2Head encounters against Auger-Aliassime, Tsitsipas adds to his victory against the Canadian at last year’s Rolex Shanghai Masters to level their rivalry at 2-2.

This is the second straight year that Tsitsipas has lifted the Marseille trophy without dropping a set. The 21-year-old lost in the first round in his first two appearances at the tournament, but has now won eight straight matches in Marseille. Tsitsipas is the first man since Thomas Enqvist in 1998 to win back-to-back Marseille crowns.

Tsitsipas improves to 5-5 in ATP Tour championship matches. The 6’4” right-hander has won four of his five tour-level events on indoor hard courts.

Tsitsipas earned an early service break in his first final of the year, striking with depth on his groundstrokes at 2-1 to rush Auger-Aliassime into multiple forehand errors. After saving three break points at 5-3, the Greek served with power and ripped a forehand into his opponent’s forehand corner to convert his first set point.

With pinpoint passing shots, Tsitsipas claimed the first break of the second set at 2-2. Despite dropping serve in the following game, the World No. 6 quickly regained his advantage. Tsitsipas outmanoeuvred his opponent in multiple net exchanges and extracted backhand errors to earn a 4-3 lead. The defending champion converted his first championship point as Auger-Aliassime struck a forehand beyond the baseline.

Auger-Aliassime was aiming to capture his first trophy in five ATP Tour finals. The 19-year-old, who also finished as runner-up in Rotterdam last week, saved match points in his opening two matches en route to the final in Marseille.

Tsitsipas collects 250 FedEx ATP Ranking points and receives €116,030 in prize money. Auger-Aliassime gains 150 ATP Ranking points and earns €64,225.

In just their third event as a team, Nicolas Mahut and Vasek Pospisil lifted their second team title at the Open 13 Provence on Sunday.

The French-Canadian tandem, making its first appearance since winning the 2016 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, saved both break points it faced to take the title after 72 minutes.

Mahut and Pospisil have won eight consecutive matches as a pairing, with their only defeat coming in 2015 on their team debut in Rotterdam. The unseeded duo did not drop a set en route to the title in Marseille, which included back-to-back victories against top seeds Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies and second seeds Koolhof and Mektic.

This is Mahut’s third title run in Marseille. The Frenchman triumphed alongside Edouard Roger-Vasselin in 2012 and also lifted the trophy with Julien Benneteau in 2017. Mahut owns 30 tour-level doubles crowns.

Pospisil improves to 7-7 in tour-level doubles championship matches. This is the Canadian’s first ATP Tour doubles title since claiming the Rotterdam trophy with Mahut in 2016.

Koolhof and Mektic were attempting to capture their first title in their maiden final as a team. The second seeds began their partnership last month at the Adelaide International and own a 5-4 record.

Mahut and Pospisil receive 250 FedEx ATP Doubles Ranking points and share €39,130 in prize money. Koolhof and Mektic gain 150 points and split €20,050.

Two quarter-finals were played early Saturday at the Rio Open presented by Claro due to Friday rain. But the rain wouldn’t stay away in Brazil, and neither semi-final was finished due to the weather, with play being called for the evening after midnight.

Third seed Cristian Garin and Italian qualifier Gianluca Mager both lead by a set in their respective semi-finals in Rio de Janeiro, but they will have to return to the clay on Sunday morning to finish the job. Both matches are scheduled to resume not before 1pm local time, with the final not to be played before 5:30pm.

Garin leads fifth seed Borna Coric 6-4, 4-4, and he is to serve at 15/15 when play resumes. The 23-year-old was up a break in the second set, but launched a short backhand long to allow Coric back on serve.

The Chilean lost five of his first six matches this season. But he is flying as high as ever, currently at a career-high FedEx ATP Ranking of No. 25 two weeks after winning his first ATP Tour title of the season at the Cordoba Open. Garin is pursuing a personal-best eight-match winning streak, and he is projected to crack the Top 20 by defeating Coric.

Coric is trying to reach his first final of the season. The Croatian’s most recent title came on grass at 2018 Halle.

In the other semi-final, Mager leads Hungarian lucky loser Attila Balazs 7-6(4), 6-3. Mager owned only two tour-level wins (2-3) before this week.

Earlier Saturday, Mager completed a rain-delayed 7-6(4), 7-5 triumph against top seed and recent Australian Open finalist Dominic Thiem. Ironically, he beat Balazs in the final round of qualifying 6-0, 6-2.

Yoshihito Nishioka appeared to be in deep trouble when he went back to the locker room for a second rain delay early on in his Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com semi-final. But the Japanese returned to Stadium Court with a renewed energy, rallying to beat 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals competitor Ugo Humbert 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 on Saturday afternoon.

Nishioka is the first Japanese player to reach the final at this ATP 250 since Kei Nishikori won the title in 2008. The lefty will play a big server — second seed Milos Raonic or fourth seed Reilly Opelka — for the trophy on Sunday.

The 24-year-old, who captured his maiden ATP Tour title in his first final at 2018 Shenzhen, has not reached a championship match since that victory. But the speedy lefty showed why he is capable of giving plenty of players fits on Saturday, shrinking the court with his dogged defence.

Nishioka won 27 of 37 points in the deciding set to defeat the in-form Frenchman, who triumphed in Auckland in January. Early on, Humbert was in control of the points, playing controlled offence that saw him make few errors. But after the rain, Nishioka was able to break down Humbert’s game and put more pressure on him.

Nishioka saved six of the eight break points he faced, including two in the first game of the second set. Although he didn’t strike any aces, Nishioka won 74 per cent of his first-serve points to advance after one hour and 42 minutes.

The Japanese No. 2 is guaranteed to move past his previous career-high FedEx ATP Ranking of No. 58 on Monday. He reached that spot on 20 March 2017, and four days later tore his left ACL during a match in Miami. Now Nishioka is breaking new ground, and he is projected to crack the Top 50 for the first time.

Did You Know?
Nishioka also lost the first set in his quarter-final against Brandon Nakashima. He rallied to win that match 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.

Novak Djokovic will get plenty of attention as the top seed in the singles draw at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships next week. But the fans in Dubai and around the world will get a special treat.

Djokovic will also compete in doubles, partnering former World No. 3 Marin Cilic for the first time. The singles stars will not have it easy, as they will face top seeds and Australian Open champions Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury in the first round.

Djokovic has competed in doubles in Dubai five times previously (0-5), and he most recently played doubles at this year’s inaugural ATP Cup, winning two matches alongside Viktor Troicki. Djokovic and Troicki clinched Team Serbia’s championship victory against Team Spain with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Pablo Carreno Busta and Feliciano Lopez.

It is a star-studded doubles draw at the ATP 500, where 2019 Nitto ATP Finals competitors Ram/Salisbury, Ivan Dodig/Filip Polasek, Kevin Krawietz/Andreas Mies, Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau, Pierre-Hugues Herbert (w/Paire), Raven Klaasen (w/Marach) and Michael Venus (w/Peers) are all in action.

Zverev Brothers, Kyrgios Playing Doubles In Acapulco
There will be plenty of singles stars in doubles action at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC, too. Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev, the defending champions, will begin their title defence against qualifiers.

Nick Kyrgios will partner fellow Aussie Jordan Thompson against Frenchmen Adrian Mannarino and Fabrice Martin in the first round. #NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime will compete with Monaco’s Hugo Nys, and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov will team with American Taylor Fritz.

They will all have a tough time chasing the title with standout doubles teams leading the draw. The top seeds are Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, the 2019 year-end No. 1 team. Longtime partners Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo are the second seeds and 2019 Montreal champions Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos are the third seeds.

Fourth seeds Max Purcell and Luke Saville, who reached this year’s Australian Open final, bring plenty of momentum to Acapulco.

Demoliner/Middelkoop Top Seeds In Santiago
Marcelo Demoliner and Matwe Middelkoop are the top doubles seeds at the Chile Dove Men+Care Open in Santiago. The second seeds are Marcelo Arevalo and Jonny O’Mara, who pushed Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan to a Match Tie-break in the Delray Beach semi-finals.