By Palm Beach Business.com
DELRAY BEACH — Americans Mike and Bob Bryan are arguably the most dominate doubles team in tennis, but they still lose matches. Losing after having four match points that's, that's just doesn't happen.
But it did, Sunday in the finals of the Delray Beach Open. Down 5-9, Fabrice Martin and Oliver Marach put together one improbable run in the third set of the match to win beat the Bryans 3-6, 7-6(7), 13-11.
In the singles final, Sam Querrey literally edged out fellow American Rajeev Ram 6-4, 6-4 with a shot that grazed the backline with not much more than the fuzz of the ball. Querrey had to wait a moment before celebrating as the call was confirmed.
"Today it went for us," Martin said. "Sometimes it goes against us. It's very cool"
Said Marach: " This was one of the most emotional matches, that we pulled it out after 5-9, match points. We stick together.
What made the victory even more unlikely was that Marach woke up Sunday morning with a fever and unsure whether he would be able to play. He said it lessened just before the match was to begin, but he still didn't feel well but decided to "go for it."
"We played well at the end and made some good shots ... 5-9 I mean of course luck was on our side ... I'm very happy about this win."
For the Bryans, it was tough luck. "That's doubles," Mike Bryan said. "It's a fine line. The margins are realy thin. We'll bounce bak and be ready for the Davis Cup."'
Marach and Martin came together as a team just this year. They won the Chennai (India) Open but only made it to the seond round of the Australian Open. Despite the poor finish there, they decided to stick together.
Both Querrey and Ram began the tournament unseeded. Ram had a somewhat tougher path to finals, having to beat Bernard Tomic of Australia, the tournament's No. 2 seed, and Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, the No. 4 seed. Querrey on the other hand, thad to get past Juan Martin del Potro of Argentine, who was the most accompished player in the tournament but coming off a wrist injury that left him idle for the previous 11 months.
In both sets, Ram broke Querrey early but couldn't hold. "First set he broke me, and I broke him right back, which kind of settled me down. Second set same thing.
"For the most part it was kind of ugly tennis the whole week," Querrey said. "It wasn't the cleanest match. I just kind of battled through it and hit one really good shot in the second set. It happened to be on match point."
Querrey said at first he thought he caught the back line, but Ram challenged the call. Chair umpire Fergus Murphy indicated to Querrey that the ball was in, but in the intervening moments, as the challenge went up, a bit of dbout crepted in.
"When (the challenge) was slowly going through (on the screen) I though i missed it, but it barely caught the line. I was pretty stoked," Querrey said.
Ram had challenged several line calls but without much hope that they'd be overturned. This one he had some hope of winning. "Match point, I actually though it could be out. That was a great point I played. I had a good serve, a good forehand and then another really good forehand, and he just came up with a great shot, so give credit to him.
"The thing I was more disappointed in was that I couldn't quite keep momentum going when I felt like I had it. And I had it in both sets."
Querrey took home $86,950 and 250 ranking points for winning the tournament. Ram received $45,780 and 150 points. ... Doubles winners Martin and Marach won $27,830. Total prize money for the tournament: $76,900. ... The Bryans planned to leave for Australia Wednesday to begin preparations for the Davis Cup. Martin and Marach had a closer destination in mind: the Alcapulco Open. ... Juan Martin del Potro will continue his comeback effort at the tournament in Indian Wells, Calif. He had intentions of playing in the tournament but waited until he finished Saturday's semifinals to announce that he had committed to playing there.
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