Bryan and Sock reach men's doubles final

LONDON (Reuters) - American doubles great Mike Bryan reached his first Grand Slam final without twin brother Bob on Thursday when he and Jack Sock beat Briton Dominic Inglot and Croatian partner Franko Skugor in a five-set thriller at Wimbledon.

The Bryan brothers have won a record 16 Grand Slam titles together but with Bob suffering with a hip injury Mike turned to fellow American Sock for the Wimbledon fortnight.

Just by reaching the semi-final Bryan, 40, guaranteed a return to the number one spot in the ATP doubles rankings and became the oldest man to hold the number one spot.

On Thursday he and Sock were cruising before losing two tiebreaks but eventually ran out 6-3 6-1 6-7(11) 6-7(4) 6-4 winners to set up a final against South Africa/New Zealand team Raven Klaasen and Mark Venus who beat Briton Joe Salisbury and Denmark's Frederik Nielsen.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Clare Lovell)