It’s a family affair in the California desert for Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot.

The cousins, who rose to fame last year when they played the third unseeded final in Masters 1000 history in Shanghai, advanced to their first career doubles final on Friday with a 7-5, 6-7(3), 10-5 victory over Yuki Bhambri and Andre Goransson inside Stadium 1.

Vacherot and Rinderknech, whose mothers are sisters, had never won an ATP-level doubles match prior to this week, but they hit the ground running in the California desert, notching straight-set wins over Daniil Medvedev and Learner Tien, Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev to reach the semifinals.

Asked about their tennis life together after today’s win, the cousins said their history on court started when they were very young.

“Five years old,” Vacherot said. “We played together our whole life. We never lived together in the same city but when we were on vacation we would play. Even when we were skiing we would find a court and play a few minutes. Even if it was zero degrees we were hitting a few balls.”

They lived across the street from each other when they attended Texas A&M University together, with Vacherot, who is three years younger, always looking up to his older cousin.

On Sunday they'll hope to look across at one another on the winner's podium.

Today the cousins were tested by Goransson and Bhambri, but surged to life in the match tiebreak after dropping a set to claim a spot in the final.

A dominant match tiebreak

After a difficult second set, the team regrouped and played their best tennis in their first match tiebreak of the week.

With Goransson serving, Vacherot ripped a return that screamed into the doubles alley for a clean winner and an 8-4 lead. Rinderknech followed with a backhand return winner after the changeover to make it 9-4.

“Just doing the same thing we did in the past days, trying to bring more energy in the super tiebreak,” Rinderknech said.

It was over two points later. Another story to tell the grandkids at a family gathering, and a final to look forward to on Saturday.

France vs France

Rinderknech and Vacherot will face Argentina’s Guido Andreozzi and France’s Manuel Guinard in the final. The Argentine-French duo had four set points before dropping the opening set, but rebounded to defeat top seeds Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers, 6-7(13), 6-3, 10-5.

“We fought very hard, it was a very intense game,” said Andreozzi. “The first set was crazy, we had a couple of chances, but we stayed in the match and it paid off in the end.”