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Fifth seeded American pair of Mike Bryan and Jack Sock have had a tremendous season considering they only paired up on the spur earlier this year after an injury to Mike's longtime doubles partner and brother Bob Bryan. Bryan / Sock prevailed over their opponents Murray / Soares 6-3, 4-6, (10-4) in the first semifinal of the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals.
Sock, who won the Rolex Paris Masters in 2017, has seen his fortunes slide in the singles category this year while his doubles game has risen to new heights. He won at both Wimbledon and the US Open alongside partner Mike Bryan.
Semifinalists for a third straight year, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares came into the match with a ton of confidence having won all their three group matches to end the group stages as the only pair with a 100% record. But it wasn't to be their year yet again as their march was stopped by the Americans.
Bryan and Sock, who came into the match after facing a drubbing at the hands of the all-French duo of Herbert and Mahut, started off the stronger team as they seized the break at 4-3 off the Soares serve. That was all that they needed to close out the first set.
The second set saw Murray and Soares play some free-flowing attacking shots as they brought up two break point opportunities on the Mike Bryan serve at 4-3. Bryan wriggled out of the tricky situation and levelled the score at 4-4, but two games later the persistence of the Scottish-Brazilian pair paid off as they brought up three set points off the Jack Sock serve.
They finally were able to grab the elusive service break on the third attempt with Murray neatly swatting aside a volley at the net. Buoyed by the crowd who were urging them on, Murray and Soares leveled the match and took it to a deciding match tiebreak.
Soares had an off-color evening as he did not look sharp all match long, making too many errors, and as a result they quickly trailed in the tiebreak. They were eventually unable to overturn a 2-6 scoreline, with Sock's powerful forehand causing significant damage.
Bryan and Sock await the winners of the second semifinal match between French duo Herbert / Mahut and the Colombian pairing of Farah / Cabal.
