Israel stun Russia to reach Davis Cup semi-finals

Israel reached the Davis Cup semi-finals for the first time yesterday after Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich gave them an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Russia in their World Group quarter-final.

The experienced pairing of Ram and Erlich thrilled the home supporters to beat Russia's Marat Safin and Igor Kunitsyn 6-3 6-4 6-7 4-6 6-4 in the doubles.

"Everybody has dreams but there are some you don't allow yourself to have and beating Russia 3-0 was just like that... but we have done it," Erlich said.

Ram added in a courtside interview: "For the first time I have absolutely nothing to say, usually I just can't stop talking and I started to cry like a little boy."

The players and the capacity 11,000 crowd endured a rollercoaster of emotions after the Israeli duo let a two-set lead slip through their fingers and allowed the Russians back into the match.

The Israelis appeared to be running out of steam as the match progressed but the crowd roared them on to victory.

"The crowd, the atmosphere here, they made me play four times better than I have been playing recently," Ram said.

He also praised his partner Erlich, with whom he won the 2008 Australian Open title.

"I didn't play well today, we had hoped we could finish it in three sets but Yoni (Jonathan) was excellent, I'm so pleased to see him back in form after recovering from his injury," Ram said.

Erlich was sidelined by an elbow injury for over a year and yesterday's partnership with Ram was their first Davis Cup outing together in over a year.

Israel took a surprise 2-0 lead in the opening singles on Friday when 210th-ranked Harel Levy upset the formbook to beat Igor Andreev 6-4 6-2 4-6 6-2 before Israeli number one Dudi Sela beat Mikhail Youzhny.

Israel will play the winners of the quarter-final tie between champions Spain and Germany from September 18 to 20.

In Porec, Croatia, Bob and Mike Bryan kept alive the United States's hopes of reaching the Davis Cup semi-finals with a 6-3 6-1 6-3 win over Croatian pair Roko Karanusic and Lovro Zovko in the doubles yesterday.

The Bryan brothers had to win the doubles to extend the tie into a third day after the US came off second best in Friday's epic singles matches, which had both gone to five sets.

"It's going to be a hard-fought contest tomorrow even though it's been since 1934 since US came back from losing 2-0," Mike Bryan told reporters yesterday.

Ivo Karlovic had been expected to play yesterday but after his exhausting 3-1/2 hour win against James Blake on the opening day, Croatian captain Goran Prpic replaced him with Karanusic for the doubles.

Today, Marin Cilic will take on Blake in the first reverse singles and Karlovic is scheduled to face Mardy Fish in the final rubber.

Quarter-finals: Spain lead Germany 2-1; Israel beat Russia 3-0; Czech Rep. lead Argentina 2-1; Croatia lead US 2-1.

Swedish Open

Women's singles final - Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Spain) beat Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 7-5 6-4.