Bjorkman-Mirnyi Stop Bryans in Cincy Final

Second seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi successfully defended their Western and Southern Financial Group Masters title with a 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 (Match TB) victory over top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan on Sunday. Bjorkman and Mirnyi become the first team since 1937 to repeat at the Western and Southern Financial Group Masters.

Bjorkman and Mirnyi snapped the Bryans undefeated streak and improve to 3-0 against the American twins this year.

Bjorkman and Mirnyi pick up their third ATP Masters Series shield this season with the victory adding to titles from Miami and Monte-Carlo that they picked up earlier this season. Bjorkman earns his third event title after taking home titles in 1999 (w/ Black) and 2005 (w/ Mirnyi).

"I think Max was playing good in the beginning. I played decent," Bjorkman said. "I just screwed up in Max's service game. Bob and Mike are very good front runners, so you can't really do that against any team, but especially not against Bob and Mike. I totally screwed up, and that was unfortunate. But we showed strength in the team again that, you know, it's always best-of-three sets."

Bjorkman and Mirnyi improve to 39-8 this season with the victory and earn their third hard court title and fifth overall title this year.

The Bryans fall to 57-11 on the season with the loss and had their 21-match win streak, which dates back to Wimbledon, snapped. The Bryans, who have appeared in the final in each of their US Open series appearances this summer, have captured five hard court titles and six overall titles in 2006. They were looking for their second consecutive AMS shield after claiming the Toronto title last week.
-- ATP