Brothers Mike and Bob Bryan have won their third Australian Open doubles championship, withstanding the pressure thrown at them by Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles to win 2-6 7-5 6-0.

The No.2 seeds got off to a sluggish start but ended the match with 14 more points and six less unforced errors than their opponents.

They were on-song with their serve and delivered no double faults to dash the hopes of Bhupathi, who was playing for his career Grand Slam and Knowles, who was making his 17th straight appearance at Melbourne Park.

It was a flawless first set from the Indian-Bahamas duo, who came out firing.

They took the first service game off the Bryans on their second break point opportunity with a forehand that found the gap right down the middle.

They followed up by consolidating the break, and it wasn’t until the third game that the Bryans displayed some of the symmetry they are renowned for to get on the board at 2-1.

Having a fair share of the ball, the American duo capitalised on their only break point opportunity for the set during the fourth game, but they were denied the opportunity to level when Knowles was able to wrong-foot the brothers and Bhupathi put away an overhead.

The No.3 seeds didn’t make the same mistake as their opponents, putting away their third break point chance in the next game after pushing the Bryans wide and upsetting their rhythm to move to 4-1.

The pair rolled on to take the first set in 27 minutes, and going into the second, they looked to have the momentum.

But the Bryans looked stronger at the start of the second, cruising through their opening service game.

Both teams held serve relatively easily for the first four games, and it wasn’t until the Bryans were serving at 2-2 that Knowles and Bhupathi had a break point opportunity.

A signalled Bryan serve saved the 30-year-old Californians, and again in the seventh game they fended off two break point opportunities.

It was the three unconverted break point opportunities that Bhupathi and Knowles soon regretted as the momentum shifted towards the Americans.

As Knowles’ first serve percentage started to slip, the Bryans became more comfortable, unleashing volleys and smashes at the net to pick up on only their third break point for the match, which was conveniently a set point as well.

From here, the former world No.1 pair steamrolled into the deciding set, regularly showing off their fabulous reflexes.

The Bryans were getting to everything, and once they had established a double break to lead 4-0, the contest was effectively over.

After 23 minutes, they had three championship points on Bhupathi’s serve and needed only one, putting away just one of their 27 points for the set with a forehand winner.

The win sees the Bryans move to equal-second in the race for all-time doubles Grand Slam title leaders of the Open Era.

They join elites like John Newcombe and Tony Roche as well as Peter Fleming and John McEnroe, who won seven Grand Slam titles apiece, but trail Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, who have 11 to their names.