First-Time Pairing of Merrick’s Lipsky & Mexico’s Gonzalez Defeat the Bryan Brothers to Capture Barcelona Open Title
The team of Scott Lipsky & Santiago Gonzalez, playing together for the first time, has ended the 10-match winning streak of Bob & Mike Bryan on Sunday as Lipsky & Gonzalez captured the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell Doubles Championship with a 5-7, 6-2, 12-10. En route to their championship, Lipsky & Gonzalez knocked off the number three seeds Jurgen Melzer & Nenad Zimonjic, and the number two seeds, Max Mirnyi & Daniel Nestor.
"In order to beat Bob & Mike, you have to play extremely well," said Lipsky, a native of Merrick, N.Y. "We kept our composure the whole match and played some big points at big times. We’re both very excited about how this week went. We served well all week. That puts pressure on our opponents and we put a lot of returns in. Hopefully at some point we can play again!"
The 29-year-old Lipsky was contesting his 12th ATP World tour doubles final and improved to a 6-6 record. The 28-year-old Gonzalez, Mexico’s number one-ranked player in both singles and doubles, captured his second ATP World Tour doubles title. The Bryan Brothers, who won the Barcelona trophy in 2003 and 2008, were chasing their third ATP World Tour title in as many weeks, having defeated the duo of John Isner & Sam Querrey at Houston and Juan Ignacio Chela & Bruno Soares at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
“We put ourselves in a strong position and we couldn’t get ourselves over the line," said Bob Bryan. "Sometimes, that’s the way it goes … that’s tennis.”
