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Davis Cup heroes make history

July 16, 2009 10:53
Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich celebrate their tie-clinching doubles victory

BySimon Griver, Simon Griver

2 min read

Israel reached the Davis Cup semi-finals for the first time with a stunning 4-1 victory over Russia in Tel Aviv at the weekend.

The 10,800 capacity crowd at the Nokia Arena went wild as Israel raced into a decisive 3-0 lead over the first two days of the tie.

Israel’s chances were improved by the fact that Russia — the Davis Cup champions in 2002 and 2006 — were without their two top-ranked players through injury. But no one expected 210th-ranked Harel Levy to sweep aside Igor Andreev (24) in four sets in the opening rubber.

In the second match, Dudi Sela recovered from losing the first set to take the next three against Mikhail Youzhny.