For a while it looked as if neither pair could win a point against opponent's
serves. Only occasionally were servers required to make a first volley. It
was top-flight men's doubles at its least interesting.
But in the eighth game, trailing love-40, the Bryan brothers began finding
the court with low, softish returns, forcing extended exchanges wherein the
Americans excelled. Some fine court play yielded what seemed a set-clinching
service-break, the Bryans now ahead 5 games to 3. But then, improbably, Bob Bryan
produced some poor serving, surrendering the service-break advantage. Two games
later Fernando Verdasco, who had faltered intermittently in singles the day
before, abruptly contributed three disastrous errors in volleying to yield the
first set, Bryans over Lopez-Verdasco 75.
Having now found their zone of comfort, the Americans settled down to
exploiting their edge in volleying consistency. Errors in volleying by the
Spanish pair came often enough to encourage the Americans in their relatively
conservative hitting, while the brothers seemed increasingly able to return the
strong lefty serves of both opponents. The only service-break of the set was
marked mainly by mistakes at net by the Spaniards. It ended at 63 and a two-set
lead for the home team.
American confidence was now high. Perhaps the American hitting softened just
a bit, waiting for Spanish volleying errors. But after Lopez survived an
early, difficult serving game, the level of play by the Spanish pair improved
markedly both in serving and in net play. As Spanish winners began increasingly to
appear instead of errors, hints of concern could be noticed on the Bryan
faces. It was again Bob Bryan's serve that was broken by the Spaniards. Feliciano
Lopez closed out matters with some superb serves, 63.
The crowd involvement in the fourth set became extreme, worthy of great Cup
matches of the past. Both pairs weathered difficult moments. The Americans
seemed the stronger, but the visitors continued to improve in confidence,
consistency, and aggressiveness. The play was now often spectacular, including some
magnificent serving by the visitors. It ended in the closest of tiebreak games,
the Americans gaining a minibreak early but then yielding it. The difference
was a lucky net-cord serve-return by Mike in the tenth point, giving the Bryans
the critical minibreak, cemented two points later by a Bob poach.
The intensity of the ensuing celebration was predictable. The victorious
Americans could now relax for Sunday's singles and could look forward to September
in Sweden, that nation's team having defeated Argentina a few hours earlier.
