In The News

Bjorkman Win in French Open

06/10/2006

PARIS (AP), France

Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Max Mirnyi of Belarus beat twins Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5 Saturday to win the French Open men’s doubles title for the second year in a row.

The same teams faced each other in the 2005 final at Roland Garros. They also met in the U.S. Open final in September, when the Bryan brothers won.

“It’s always nice with repeats. It’s been a great two weeks,” Bjorkman said. “We do well on all surfaces, but our strength comes out on clay better.”

The Bryans are the first men’s doubles team to reach six consecutive Grand Slam finals, and they had a chance to tie the record for most major titles in a row at three.

“Jonas is solid. Pretty much, Max is sometimes the ‘X-factor.’ But he was putting a lot of returns in and not missing first serves,” Bob Bryan said. “It made that team tough to beat today.”

This was Bjorkman’s eighth Grand Slam doubles championship: the two French Opens with Mirnyi, four titles with Todd Woodbridge (Wimbledon in 2002 and 2004, the U.S. Open in 2003, and the Australian Open in 2001), and one each with Jacco Eltingh (1998 Australian Open) and Pat Rafter (1999 Australian Open).