The fourth seeds for the second match in a row Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares were forced to fight from a set down to defeat the seventh-seeded Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 to win the Western and Southern Open, their first Masters title. 

Cabal/Farah come from a break down to take the opening set in the final 

Thr first blow of the final came in the third game with Soares hitting a return winner to earn two break points before another solid return on serve from Murray saw the first break arrive at 2-1.

The Brazilian made no mistakes and held serve to love, consolidating the break to lead 3-1. The Colombians then found themselves in danger of falling further behind as the fourth seeds brought up four break point chances as the Scot showed excellent defensive skills which set up the forehand. 

Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah had a great week but couldn't claim the title (Photo: Noel Alberto)
Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah had a great week but couldn't claim the title (Photo: Noel Alberto)

The seventh seeds then impressively sent the game to a deciding deuce point and escaped with an unreturnable serve to stay in the contest at 3-2. But three games later, it was the Colombians turn to put some pressure on the Brit-Brazilian duo by bringing up their first break points of the final at 30-40.

At the first time of asking, they broke back and consolidated the break to take the lead for the first time in the final at 4-5. With the momentum switched in their favor, the Colombians sent the game to a deciding deuce point which was also a break/set point chance. The pair broke the fourth seeds to grab the opening set 4-6. 

Murray/Soares come from behind to send the match into a deciding tiebreaker

Just like the first set, the Colombians applied pressure on the fourth seeds and brought up two break point chances in the second game. But this time, Murray/Soares denied the seventh seeds to hold serve for 1-1. The next two service games went on serve as all four players held their opening games for 2-2.

Serving in the fifth game, Cabal/Farah crumbled which allowed Murray/Soares to grab three crucial break point chances. The pair missed their first chance but didn't make any mistakes and put away their second to break the Colombians for 3-2.

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares celebrate winning their first Masters title together (Photo: Noel Alberto)
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares celebrate winning their first Masters title together (Photo: Noel Alberto)

They then consolidated the break to take a 4-2 lead as they aimed to send the final to a decider. Two more games came and gone with the Brit-Brazilian serving for the second set up 5-3. After a little over half an hour of the second set gone, three set points arrived for the fourth seeds at 15-40.

With their first opportunity, the fourth seeds sealed the set 6-3 to send the match into a champions tiebreaker. For Murray/Soares, this was the second consecutive match they had gone into a match-deciding tiebreaker. 

Murray/Soares capture their first Masters title 

The fourth seeds began the crucial match tiebreaker by holding their opening serve for a 1-0 lead. On the Colombians serve, they broke to take a 2-0 lead, then just the two games later ahead at 2-1, Cabal/Farah broke twice to lead the breaker 2-3.

In an ever-changing final set, Murray/Soares broke back in the seventh game for 4-3 and held serve the next point to make it 4-4.

But the Colombians broke in the ninth game only to lose the break immediately in the next game as the Brit-Brazilian continued to fight throughout this final making it 5-5. Three serves followed and with the score in favor of MurraySoares at 7-8, they crucially broke the seventh seeds twice to earn a championship point.

Having missed out on the title last year, the fourth seeds Murray/Soares made no mistakes this time around and clinched the title, 10-8. For Jamie Murray, this was the first Masters title of his career, and first with Bruno Soares. 

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