Bryans Reach Final Again

Bob and Mike Bryan, the 28-year-old brothers from Camarillo, made it to their seventh straight Grand Slam tournament men’s doubles finals Friday at Wimbledon with a 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory over Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor.

The Bryans, seeded first, will play the sixth-seeded team of Fabrice Santoro of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia on Centre Court after the women’s final. The brothers are the first team in the open era of tennis to play in seven straight finals, though they’ve won only two of them -- the 2005 U.S. Open and the 2006 Australian Open. They also won the 2003 French Open.

Bob Bryan also advanced to the mixed doubles finals with partner Venus Williams after the Americans beat Max Mirnyi and Jie Zheng 7-5, 7-5. Williams yelled in joy after the victory, clearly relishing the triumph that came eight days after she was upset in the third round of women’s singles. Bryan and Williams are playing mixed doubles for the first time.

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Rafael Nadal is the fourth-youngest men’s finalist. Boris Becker is first and second. Becker was 17 years 227 days when he won in 1985 and 18 years 226 days when he won in 1986. Bjorn Borg was 20 years 27 days old when he beat Ilie Nastase in the 1976 final. Nadal will be 20 years 36 days old Sunday when he plays Roger Federer.

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Andy Murray, a 19-year-old from Scotland who made it to the fourth round here, told John McEnroe on BBC radio Friday that he has spoken to Brad Gilbert, the former coach of Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick.

“It’s not a done deal,” Murray said, “but I’ve spoken to Brad. He is somebody I’d like to work with.”

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Twin power

Mike and Bob Bryan reached their seventh straight Grand Slam event final. They play today after the women’s singles final:

2006 Wimbledon: vs. Fabrice Santoro, France, and Nenad Zimonjic, Serbia.

2006 French Open: Lost to Jonas Bjorkman, Sweden, and Max Mirnyi, Belarus, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5.

2006 Australian Open: Def. Martin Damm, Czech Republic, and Leander Paes, India, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

2005 U.S. Open: Def. Bjorkman and Mirnyi, 6-1, 6-4.

2005 Wimbledon: Lost to Stephen Huss, Australia, and Wesley Moodie, South Africa, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3.

2005 French Open: Lost to Bjorkman and Mirnyi, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

2005 Australian Open: Lost to Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett, Zimbabwe, 6-4, 6-4.

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Note: From 1951 to 1952, Ken McGregor and Frank Sedgman reached eight straight finals, winning the first seven before losing the 1952 U.S. Open championship to Mervyn Rose and Vic Seixas.

Source: Associated Press