Flexibility will be the watchword for the Bryan brothers as they prepare for today's doubles match against defending champions Russia in the Davis Cup final.

Although the Russians nominated world number four Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev in Thursday's draw ceremony, the Americans believe that doubles pairing could be changed.

"I do not expect that to be the doubles team," US captain Patrick McEnroe told a news conference after Davydenko, Russia's top player, was surprisingly omitted from the singles.

"I don't think they probably even know who their doubles team will be. That will probably depend somewhat on what happens on Friday (yesterday)."

Dmitry Tursunov was playing American number one Andy Roddick in last night's opening singles match at the Memorial Coliseum, followed by Russia's Mikhail Youzhny against James Blake.

The dominant Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, enter the fray today when they bid to win their 13th Davis Cup doubles match out of 14.

"Doubles is always in the spotlight in Davis Cup," Bob Bryan said. "It's the swing point, it's really pivotal. That's why we enjoy playing so much. Doubles is huge.

"We want to win that match for these guys up here," he added, pointing to team-mates Roddick and Blake.

Whichever combination Russia throws at them, the Bryan brothers will be ready.

"We know all four of these guys," Bob Bryan said, referring to the four-man Russian team. "We're going to be prepared for each one individually also."

Should they be pitted against Davydenko and Andreev, they expect their opponents to favour the baseline.

"They would be a team that would stay back a little more," Bob Bryan said.

"I could see them serving, maybe on a first serve and second serve staying in, just ripping forehands, playing more of a singles type of game against us.

"We're going to prepare a little bit different. We have formulas figured out for that. We've played teams that play that style all through the last three years, especially with all the singles players entering doubles."

The Bryan brothers, winners of five grand slam titles together, have lost just one doubles match in the Davis Cup since making their debut against Slovakia in a World Group play-off in 2003.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.