Double delight for Bryans at Barclays ATP World Tour Final

London: It was double delight for Mike and Bob Bryan of the US after they won the doubles title and were crowned the world champions along the way at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals here on Sunday.

The Bryans, seeded No.2 here, won 7-6 (5), 6-3 against the seventh seeds Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram in an hour and 20 minutes, at a packed O2 Arena.

This was the second time these pairs were meeting each other in this competition – the round robin match going 6-4, 6-4 in favour of the Belarussian and Israeli duo.

For this season, it was their sixth meeting, with Mirnyi and Ram having won three of the previous five.

The Bryans had a chance to break Ram and Mirnyi in the seventh game of the first set, but the Israeli came up with some superb serves to hold and push the set into a tie-break that they went on to win 7-5.

The much-awaited break – the only one of the encounter – came in the eighth game of the second set as the Bryans went clear 5-3 and Bob then served out for game, set and match along with the doubles crown.

"This has been an unbelievable week and we've just got better with each match," Bob said.

"I hope we can carry this form forward into the next season," added Mike.

Yesterday's title also handed the Bryan twins the World No.1 crown. This completes a hat-trick of year-end titles for the Americans – their previous two coming in 2003 and 2004 in Houston.

Last year, they were the finalists in Shanghai, losing to Nenad Zimonjic and Daniel Nestor, whom they now displace at the top of the doubles rankings.

This was also the second time in-a-row that the No.1 doubles ranking was decided after a final result in this competition.

This is also the fifth time that the Bryans have finished as the No.1 team to receive the ATP World Tour Doubles Champions honours during the past seven years. Their previous titles came in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Result: Bob/Mike Bryan bt Max Mirnyi/Andy Ram 7-6 (5); 6-3.