By Erik Gudris | Sunday, November 16, 2014

Bob and Mike Bryan concluded yet another standout season by finishing as year-end No. 1's and winning their fourth ATP World Tour Finals title in London.

Yet, the Americans were forced to play their very best in a final featuring a team who had not won a title all season. No. 7 seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo proved worthy opponents right from the start in Sunday's final.

Melo fought back from being 0-40 down on his serve midway through the opening set. That missed opportunity to break for the Bryans later resulted in a tiebreak. Dodig and Melo charged out to a 5-1 lead only to watch the Bryans level things at 5-all.

But when Bob Bryan couldn't handle a overhead that he netted, that allowed Melo to serve out the tiebreak 7-6(5).

Things shifted in favor of the Bryans quickly in the second set. Breaking Melo's serve early, they soon opened up a 4-2 lead.

The next game provided the point of the match, and likely of the tournament, featuring not one but two tweeners hit by both teams in a thrilling all-court rally.

The Bryans broke Melo one more time to close out the set 6-2 and thus force a final set tiebreak to decide the title.

Both teams exchanged early breaks and kept even with each other midway through the breaker. Yet, a double fault from Dodig serving from behind proved costly as he gave the Bryans a 7-4 advantage. Dodig and Melo would pull to within a point, but the Bryans with quick reflexes and strong serving found themselves at match point.

When Melo hit a final lob just over the baseline, that allowed the Bryans to celebrate the hard-earned 6-7(5), 6-2, 10-6 victory.

This is now the fourth career ATP World Tour Finals title for the Bryans and their 10th title of the season. It's also the fourth year in their career that they've won 10 titles in a season as well as finishing year-end No. 1 for a record tenth time.