Miracle comeback, and epic choke, send Bryans to London semifinals

The saying goes that it is better to be lucky than good.

But it’s best to be both–and that’s what Bob and Mike Bryan were on Thursday night at the World Tour Finals in a 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 16-14 victory over Jamie Murray and John Peers.

The incredibly close scoreline, though, hardly tells the full story. It was a do-or-die situation for both teams in terms of their semifinal fates in London, so a mix of head-scratching, nervous shots with the occasional hard-to-believe winner could have been expected. The extent of what transpired could not. Bob and Mike’s comeback from a set down and from trailing 5-3 in the second-set tiebreaker was only the beginning. They also fell behind 7-2 and 9-5 in the decisive 10-point match tiebreaker.

That’s when things got truly crazy. The Americans saved the first match point on their own serve before taking each of the two when Peers toed the line. That put the pressure on Peers’ return game at 9-8. A strong return gave the Aussie a perfect look at an easy forehand right on top of the net, but he inexplicably sailed it long. Before it was over, the Bryan Brothers fought off five match points in total while the Murray-Peers duo also saved four.

It finally came to a fitting conclusion when Peers, whose chances to finish the match were far too many to name without writing an entire book, shanked a forehand return with his opponents serving at 15-14.

But aside from their patented on-court chest bump, the Bryans did not celebrate. They couldn’t, they said. “We were in shock,” Bob explained.

“It was over,” Mike added, referring to their deficit in the super-tiebreaker. “We’ve never come back from 9-5.”

The brothers also said it was the longest best-of-three match in their entire careers, as it lasted one hour and 54 minutes. Only the two singles matches that have gone to three sets this week at the World Tour Finals have required more time to be completed.

Speaking of time, it could be a while before Peers gets over this one.

“Definitely not the way to end (our partnership),” said Peers, who will play with Henri Kontinen in 2015 as Murray teams up alongside Bruno Soares. “We wish each other the best. Unfortunately didn’t turn out the way we wanted (it) to at the end of this tournament.

“I hit a great return,” he said of the 9-8 point. “The ball actually came shorter than I expected. I thought it was going to come a bit deeper. Didn’t quite get over the top of the ball, unfortunately. Then it sailed long. Probably should have put one back through him, but that’s tennis.”