Mirnyi/Oswald Oust Bryan Brothers In Houston

Max Mirnyi had faced Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan plenty before taking the court Friday evening at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston. In fact, the Belarusian had played the brothers 54 times (31-23), and lost nine of their past 10 FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings. 

But despite the 39-year-olds carrying a seven-match winning streak into the semi-final, Mirnyi and partner Philipp Oswald were too good on the night, ousting the recent Miami Open presented by Itaú champions 6-4, 2-6, 10/6.  

The Belarusian-Austrian duo dropped two of their first three service points in the Super Tie-break, but rallied from 4/3 down to win seven of the match’s final nine points, advancing to the final. This year’s New York Open champions will face Andre Begemann and Antonio Sancic for the title. The German-Croatian pair battled past wild cards Dustin Brown and Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 3-6, 10/7 to reach their first ATP World Tour championship match as a team. 

Begemann and Sancic had never played together prior to arriving at the River Oaks Country Club, and they only played against each other once on the ATP World Tour. Begemann owns four tour-level titles, while Sancic seeks his maiden trophy. 

Did You Know?
Mirnyi earned his 1,000th victory in January before reaching his 100th final (both milestones are singles and doubles combined) in February at the New York Open. He played with Oswald on both occasions.