Reuters: Sports News: Tennis: Doubles gold will top the lot, say Bryans

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Tennis: Doubles gold will top the lot, say Bryans Aug 3rd 2012, 20:29 Brothers Mike Bryan (L) and Bob Bryan of the U.S. celebrate during their men's doubles tennis semi-final match against France's Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet at the All England Lawn Tennis Club during the London 2012 Olympic Games August 3, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Adrees Latif By Martyn Herman LONDON | Fri Aug 3, 2012 4:29pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - American twins Mike and Bob Bryan reached their first Olympic men's doubles final with victory over French duo Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet at Wimbledon on Friday and said a gold medal would be their greatest achievement. The Bryans, who returned from Beijing four years ago with a pair of bronze medals, won 6-4 6-4 in less than an hour and will face another French duo, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra, in the final after they beat Spain's Feliciano Lopez and David Ferrer in a titanic three-setter. Czech Republic pair Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka enjoyed a shock 6-1 7-6 victory over top-seeded Americans Lisa Raymond and Liezel Huber in the women's doubles semi-final. They will face either American twice Olympic doubles champions Serena and Venus Williams or Russians Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova in the final. That match was held over until Saturday as organizers battled to complete a schedule complicated by many players being involved in both singles and doubles play. The Bryans are strictly doubles specialists, finishing number one pair for seven of the past 11 years, and winning 11 grand slam titles together. Mike said, however, that winning the Olympic gold medal that has so far eluded them would top the lot. "Every sports fan in the world knows what an Olympic medal is. They don't necessarily know what a Wimbledon title is," the 34-year-old Californian told reporters. "It would be at the front of the trophy case for sure." He returned to court later with mixed doubles partner Raymond to beat Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro and Gisela Dulko 6-2 7-5 to reach the semi-finals. "That mixed doubles match probably meant a lot more than most mixed doubles matches that Mike and I or any of us have probably played," Raymond told reporters. German couple Sabine Lisicki and Chistopher Kas also reached the mixed doubles semi-final with victory against Italian duo Roberta Vinci and Daniele Bracciali. Tsonga and Llodra kept French hopes of gold alive at the tennis tournament with the day's second epic men's match. After Roger Federer's four and a half hour men's singles defeat of Del Potro in the men's singles semis, they came through an enthralling duel with Lopez and Ferrer, winning 6-3 4-6 18-16 on Court One. "Four years ago I was just two points off a medal so obviously I am delighted I will go home with one this time," Llodra, who lost a semi-final in Beijing with Arnaud Clement 19-17 in the deciding set against Swedes Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson, told reporters. (Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Alison Williams) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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