Tennis Capsules: Davis Cup: U.S. cuts Croatia's lead to 2-1

POREC, Croatia — Bob and Mike Bryan beat Roko Karanusic and Lovro Zovko to keep the United States alive in the Davis Cup, cutting Croatia’s quarterfinal lead to 2-1 on Saturday.

The Bryan brothers cruised to a 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 doubles win on the indoor clay at Zatika Hall.

The U.S. is 1-34 when trailing 0-2 in a Davis Cup match. The team’s only comeback was against Australia in 1934.

It was the third time the second-ranked Bryans have taken the court in doubles with the U.S. Davis Cup team trailing 0-2. In the 2004 Davis Cup final in Spain and the 2006 semifinals at Russia, the twins kept the match alive by winning. The U.S. went on to lose both best-of-five series.

"Tomorrow, we hope to make history," Mike Bryan said.

James Blake will try to tie the series when he meets Croatia’s Marin Cilic in the first reverse singles on Sunday. Mardy Fish is to play the final singles against Ivo Karlovic.

Blake lost the opener to Karlovic and Cilic beat Fish on Friday. Both matches lasted five sets and took a combined time of more than 8 hours.

"Those were two very close matches," said U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe. "We certainly think we can win both matches, but first James has to beat Cilic. He thinks he has the game for Cilic."

Cilic, ranked No. 15, hopes to end the series before the fifth match.

"We now have a psychological advantage," Cilic said. "If you give Blake the initiative, he’s most dangerous but if you put him on defensive, that’s where my chances are."

With the victory on Saturday, the Bryans extended their Davis Cup record to 16 victories in 18 matches — the best ever for an American doubles pair.

They needed just over an hour to cruise to a convincing win against Karanusic and Zovko. The Croatians made a last-minute change in their doubles pair, replacing big-serving Karlovic with Karanusic.

"It was obvious they tried to save their singles player for tomorrow," Bob Bryan said. "It made our job easier."

At one point, the Bryan pair won nine straight games, breaking the Croats four times.

The 32-time champion Americans have lost to Croatia the two previous times they met in Davis Cup — in 2003 and 2005, when Croatia won the competition. The U.S., which won two years ago, is bidding to reach the semifinals for the fourth straight year. The winner will face the Czech Republic or Argentina in the semifinals in September.

The U.S. was playing without Andy Roddick, who withdrew because of a hip injury after losing an epic five-set final to Roger Federer at Wimbledon.

Israel secures Davis Cup win over Russia

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel has reached its first Davis Cup semifinal by taking an insurmountable 3-0 lead over Russia with a five-set win in the doubles match.

Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich defeated Marat Safin and Igor Kunitsyn 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 4-6, 6-4 Saturday to decide the best-of-five series. Israel will take on either Germany at home or Spain away in September.

Israel had taken a surprising 2-0 lead after Harvel Levy beat Igor Andreev and Dudi Sela rallied to defeat Mikhai Youzhny in Friday’s singles matches.

Russia has won the Davis Cup twice — in 2002 and 2007 — and made it to the semifinals in each of the past five years.

Israel had reached the quarterfinals once before, losing to India in New Delhi in 1987.

-- Aron Heller

Czechs take doubles, lead Argentina 2-1

OSTRAVA, Czech Republic — The Czech Republic has taken a 2-1 lead over Argentina in their Davis Cup quarterfinal series after winning the doubles.

Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek defeated Jose Acasuso and Leonardo Mayer 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 on the indoor hard court at CEZ Arena on Saturday.

The victory puts the Czechs one win away from the semifinals, a stage they haven’t reached since 1996. Argentina, last year’s Davis Cup runner-up, needs to sweep Sunday’s reverse singles to advance to its sixth semis in the last eight years.

The reverse singles will tentatively pit Berdych against Juan Martin del Potro and Ivo Minar against Juan Monaco.

The winner of the best-of-five series will face the United States or Croatia in the Sept. 18-20 semis.

Spain wins doubles for 2-1 lead vs. Germany

MARBELLA, Spain — Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez beat Nicolas Kiefer and Mischa Zverev 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-7 (6), 6-3 on Saturday to give defending champion Spain a 2-1 lead over Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals.

Spain, which is playing without Rafael Nadal for the second time in three series due to knee tendinitis, can wrap up its 16th straight home win Sunday when Tommy Robredo is scheduled to face Andreas Beck in reverse singles.

Verdasco, who beat Beck in Friday’s opening singles, is set to play Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final singles match on the outdoor clay at the Puerto Banus bullring.

Seles headlines class inducted into tennis Hall

NEWPORT, R.I. — Monica Seles is comfortable talking about her on-court stabbing 16 years ago — even on a day of celebration.

The 35-year-old Seles was enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Newport’s grass courts Saturday. She was the world’s No. 1 women’s player for 178 weeks overall and a winner of nine Grand Slam singles titles.

"I talk about it openly," she said during a news conference before being inducted. "As you can see, there’s an exhibit here (about me) at the museum. When we were talking about me going into the Hall of Fame it was, ‘Should we include the stabbing or not?’ Unfortunately it’s part of my career. I wish it wasn’t. It’s a long, long time ago."

It was April 30, 1993. Seles was on top of tennis, the No. 1 player, three-time defending champion of the French Open and back-to-back winner at both the U.S. and Australian Opens.

The attack shocked the sports world. Seated during a changeover at a match in Hamburg, Germany, Seles was stabbed between the shoulder blades by a crazed fan. It would be 2½ years before she returned to the sport.

"Coming back in Toronto after my stabbing, I viewed my career in two phases — before stabbing and after stabbing," she said. "The reception that I got just reinforced my decision to return."

Seles went on to win that tournament — the Canadian Open — one of 53 in her career, including the 1996 Australian Open.

"She won eight grand slams before she was stabbed," said Donald Dell, also inducted Saturday. "Believe me, she would have won another nine."

Seles was enshrined in nearly a 90-minute ceremony along with master’s player Andres Gimeno, the oldest player ever to win the French at 34 years, 10 months. Dr. Robert Johnson was inducted posthumously.

"I would like to thank all my tennis fans who were there from Day One when I was No. 1, through my stabbing, and my comeback," Seles, dressed in white slacks with a lavender blouse, told the crowd.

Johnson, introduced by Jeanne Ashe, wife of the late Hall of Famer Arthur Ashe, helped desegregate the sport. Dell, a U.S. Davis Cup member, later helped promote and market the sport.

Seles, playfully, gave one more grunt. "For old, good time sakes," she said.

Gimeno brought the biggest laughter from the crowd when he recalled his only major title at Roland Garros. He was introduced by 1987 Hall of Famer Stan Smith.

"I was going to leave the game without winning a big one," he said. "I think God said, ‘Let the poor guy win one."’

Third-seeded Sam Querrey upsets Santoro

NEWPORT, R.I. — Sam Querrey of the United States used his big serve to upset two-time defending champ Fabrice Santoro of France, 6-3, 7-6 (2), on Saturday to reach the finals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.

His win sets up the first all-American final in seven years. The 21-year-old Querrey ended Santoro’s dominance on Newport’s grass courts. Santoro, the second seed, was 12-0 and had lost just one set before the upset.

Before play, Monica Seles highlighted the 2009 class that was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

The third-seeded Querrey, looking for his second ATP event title, will face lucky loser Rajeev Ram, a 6-3, 6-4 winner of Belgium’s Oliver Rochus, on Sunday. He had 18 aces against the 36-year old Santoro, four coming in the tiebreaker.

"Obviously I served incredibly," Querrey said. "I was placing it well. A lot of aces. If he dictates, he’s tricky."

Querrey won his first career event in Auckland in January. The 25-year old Ram will be playing his first ATP final.

"I had a pretty good feeling that this could be a great week for me," Ram said. "I felt good coming in. Granted, I didn’t know I’d make the finals."

Santoro, the oldest active singles player on the ATP Tour who said earlier in the week that this is his last season on the tour, didn’t have an answer for Querrey’s big serve with his unique style of two-handed cuts and slices.

"He was serving very good," Santoro said. "I will remember this tournament forever for the record I have."

Taylor Dent beat James Blake in the 2002 final.

Ram withdrew from his qualifier match Monday, but was the lucky loser with top-seeded Mardy Fish withdrew to replace Andy Roddick on the United States Davis Cup team.

Roddick withdrew with an injury after his epic Wimbledon final loss to Roger Federer.

The 35-year-old Seles was enshrined during a ceremony on Newport’s grass courts. She was the world’s No. 1 women’s player for 178 weeks and won nine Grand Slam singles titles.

Donald Dell, Andres Gimeno and Dr. Robert Johnson were also inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Martinez Sanchez wins Swedish Open

BASTAD, Sweden — Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez beat top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 7-5, 6-4 Saturday to win the Swedish Open for her second WTA Tour title.

The unseeded Spaniard, who won her first title in Bogota in February, rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the second set. She set up the match point with a superb volley that Wozniacki could only return wide.

"This was the most enjoyable tournament for me so far this season," Martinez Sanchez said. "I felt right at home here and I hope to come back next year. I played very well today and I’m happy I played my own game."

In the opening set, Martinez Sanchez earned the decisive break for a 5-4 lead when Wozniacki netted a forehand. Martinez Sanchez wasted two set points in the next game at 40-15, but finally clinched the set with a crisp volley that Wozniacki returned into the net.

"Maria played better than me. She played smart and it was difficult to get a rhythm with her stop volleys," Wozniacki said. "But I’m still happy to have reached the final."

Wozniacki, who turned 19 Saturday, is ranked ninth in the world and has won five WTA titles.

"I’m sorry I spoiled your (birthday) celebrations, but I promise I will buy you something instead," Martinez Sanchez told Wozniacki at the post-match news conference.

The 54th-ranked Martinez Sanchez beat two other seeded players on her way to the final.

The Swedish Open moved back to Bastad, where the first women’s tournament was held in 1948, after five years on hard courts at the Olympic Stadium in Stockholm.

The men’s Swedish Open starts Monday.

Schnyder to face Szavay in Budapest final

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Top-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland and No. 4 Agnes Szavay of Hungary advanced to the final of the Budapest Grand Prix on Saturday.

Schnyder beat Edina Gallovits of Romania 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals, while Szavay defeated sixth-seeded Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-1, 6-2.

Schnyder first had to complete a 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 quarterfinal win over Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova. The match was suspended in the first set Friday because of rain.

The 21st-ranked Schnyder showed hardly a sign of fatigue in her second match, breaking Gallovits’ first service game and winning the first set in less than 30 minutes.

"It wasn’t my best game but the important thing is that I qualified for the final," Schnyder said.

In the other semifinal, Szavay raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first set and broke Bondarenko again to start the second.

"I believe I played the way she doesn’t like," Szavay said. "That is why she made a lot of errors and could not play tennis the way she likes, a game of low shots."

Schnyder is aiming for her 12th singles title on the WTA tour, while Szavay has won two tournaments so far.