Davis Cup: Advantage, Israel
Dudi Sela Image by Getty Images
The Israeli tennis team has advanced to the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time, defeating the Russians at Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv.
Dudi Sela Image by Getty Images
Harel Levy and Dudi Sela gave Israel a surprising 2-0 lead by winning their respective singles matches. Levi defeated Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, while Sela, after losing the first set 3-6, came back with a vengeance to beat Mikhail Youzhny 6-1, 6-0, 7-5.
The two wins set up a dramatic five-set match between Israel’s Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich and Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn and Marat Safin. Ram and Erlich, the 2008 Australian Open doubles champions, came out on fire, winning the first two sets 6-3, 6-4; however, the Russians, who won the Davis Cup in 2002 and 2006, didn’t give up. Kunitsyn and Safin staged a comeback, winning the third and fourth sets 7-6, 6-4 before eventually succumbing to Ram and Erlich during the fifth and deciding set, 6-4.
The doubles victory July 11 gave Israel the clinching win over the Russians in the best of five series. The following day, although the series already had been won, Israel split two matches with Russia, placing the overall win at 4-1. The Israelis will take on Spain in the Davis Cup semifinals this September.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
