U.S. Davis Cup Team Gets Boost From Bryans

The Bryan twins brought the United States to within one win of staying in the elite group of Davis Cup. Now it’s up to Andy Roddick, or James Blake, to complete the job against Belgium.

Bob and Mike Bryan won Saturday’s doubles, 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-3, against Olivier Rochus and the overmatched Kristof Vliegen at Leuven, Belgium, giving the U.S. a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series entering reverse singles.

“To win the doubles at 1-1 is huge,” said U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe. “It gives ourselves a lot of momentum.”

Today, Roddick will face 31st-ranked Rochus as he goes for his second singles victory. Rochus will be playing his third match in three days.

“Andy is going to be very motivated to finish it off,” McEnroe said. “I feel good about our chances.”

If the No. 3-ranked Roddick fails, the series will come down to Blake against Olivier’s older brother, Christophe Rochus. The Americans would be relegated from the World Group for the first time in 17 years if they lose both matches.

On Friday, Olivier Rochus beat Blake in straight sets before Roddick did the same to Christophe Rochus. Xavier Malisse, ranked 43rd in the world, is not on the team because of a dispute.

The U.S., which has won 31 Davis Cup titles, is out of contention this year. The field has been narrowed to the semifinals: Argentina at Slovakia, and Russia at Croatia.

The Bryans, winners at the U.S. Open two weeks ago, justified their No. 1 ranking. They anticipated each other’s position and repeatedly put the 130th-ranked Vliegen in trouble, much to McEnroe’s pleasure.

“That was Pat’s strategy,” Bob Bryan said. “That way we will have him stay home the rest of the match.”

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Slovakia and Croatia took 2-1 leads in their Davis Cup semifinals, with doubles victories leaving each country one win from a first appearance in the final.

Slovakia’s Karol Beck and Michal Mertinak beat Argentina’s David Nalbandian and Mariano Puerta, 7-6 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5), in Bratislava.

Argentina is in its third semifinal in four years and trying to reach its first final since 1981. Slovakia reached the semis for the first time after beating Spain, last year’s champion, and the Netherlands. Russia is the only semifinalist to have won the Davis Cup.

In Split, Croatia, the home country took the lead when Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic defeated Russia’s Igor Andreev and Dmitry Tursunov, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4.

Russia captain Shamil Tarpischev led the women to the Fed Cup title last weekend and is trying to become the first person to sweep Davis Cup and Fed Cup titles in the same year.

The Davis Cup final will be Dec. 2-4.