Israel one win from Davis Cup semis

TEL AVIV, Israel, July 10 (UPI) -- Harel Levy and Dudi Sela each won in four sets Friday, putting home-standing Israel ahead 2-0 in its Davis Cup quarterfinals against Russia.

Levy, ranked No. 210 in the world, opened the best-of-five series with a 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win over No. 24-ranked Igor Andreev and Sela took a 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, 7-5 victory over Mikhail Youzhny.

A win in Saturday's doubles of in either of the Sunday reverse singles matches would put Israel in the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time. Russia hasn't come back from a two-match deficit since the 1995 semifinals against Germany.

Israel will send Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram against the Russian doubles team of Marat Safin and Igor Kunitsyn on Saturday.

Sunday's schedule calls for Sela to go against Andreev before Levy meets Youzhny. Russia, however, may substitute Safin in one of the singles matches.

The winner of the Israel-Russia series advanced to the Davis Cup semifinals Sept. 18-20 against either Germany or Spain. Those teams split their two singles matches Friday in Spain.