Sela, Israel meet Russia in Davis Cup play

TEL AVIV, Israel, July 9 (UPI) -- Dudi Sela, after a surprising fourth-round Wimbledon showing, leads Israel's Davis Cup team against Russia in a best-of-five quarterfinal series.

Sela upset two top-15 players during his run at Wimbledon and has moved to 33rd in the world ahead of Friday's two singles Davis Cup matches to be played on an indoor hard court in Tel Aviv.

Harel Levy will open Friday for the Israelis against Russia's Mikhail Youzhny before Sela faces Igor Andreev, who at No. 24 in the world is the highest-ranked player in the series.

The Russian doubles team of Marat Safin and Igor Kunitsyn is to meet Israel's Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram Saturday. Sunday's matches have Sela playing Youzhny and Levy meeting Andreev, but Safin could be substituted for either Russian player.

Russia is looking for a fifth consecutive invitation to the Davis Cup semifinals. The Israel-Russia winner will meet the winner of a series between Germany and Spain. The Davis Cup semifinals are Sept. 18-20.

Israel is in just its second Davis Cup quarterfinals and first since 1987, when it lost to India.