Americans Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick clinched the doubles title at the BNP Paribas Open after saving three match points in a 3-6, 6-1, 14-12 win over defending champion Andy Ram and partner Max Mirnyi on Saturday in Indian Wells.
Fish and Roddick sent the doubles final into a Match Tie-break after winning the final five games of the second set, and saved match points at 8-9, 9-10 and 11-12 in the decider to the approval of the home crowd.
“We were excited,” said Fish, who jumped on Roddick’s back in celebration following the match. “We were fired up. It was an unbelievable atmosphere. Even those guys I'm sure had fun. It was a great match, 14-12 in the third.”
Roddick, who lost to Rafael Nadal in the singles semifinal prior to the doubles match, said: “I'd like to sit here and talk about my doubles prowess, but about 1-all in the second set, Mardy pretty much took over that match. In the breaker, I didn't do much to help us. I double faulted twice, which was ridiculous. I'm just glad he was able to step up and be clutch.”
Fish and Roddick improved to a 13-4 record as a tandem with their second ATP World Tour title. They won on their tour debut in 2002 at Houston.
Roddick clinched his fourth doubles title and his first since 2006 at Indianapolis (w/Reynolds). Fish, the singles runner-up last year in Indian Wells, had won his fifth ATP World Tour doubles title last month in Memphis (w/Knowles).
Mirnyi and Ram, who made a successful debut together last October with the Vienna title, had upset the World No. 1 doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan 6-2, 6-4 in Friday’s semifinal.
It marked Mirnyi’s second runner-up finish at the BNP Paribas Open, having come up just shy of the title in 2002 (w/Federer). Ram was playing in his third straight BNP Paribas Open final. He and compatriot Jonathan Erlich won the title last year (d. Nestor-Zimonjic) after losing to Martin Damm and Leander Paes in the 2007 final. Erlich has been sidelined since the US Open with an elbow injury.
(From Website : http://www.bnpparibasopen.org/1/news/newsarticle_2746.asp)
