USA One Win Away From Davis Cup Title

PORTLAND, Oregon (Ticker) - The United States has to like its chances of clinching a record 32nd Davis Cup title on Saturday with Bob and Mike Bryan facing Russians Igor Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko in doubles competition. The Bryan twins are 12-1 in Davis Cup matches and have been the world's top-ranked doubles team for three straight years. If that wasn't enough, the United States is 5-0 in Davis Cup finals on home soil since 1973.

Singles victories by Andy Roddick and James Blake on Friday have given the Americans a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five final. A win by the Bryans on Saturday would give the U.S. its first Davis Cup since 1995, when Pete Sampras led the squad to a victory over the Russians in the final. Should the Bryans suffer a rare loss, the Americans can still claim the title with a win by either Roddick and Blake during Sunday's reverse singles competition. While the Bryans have tremendous experience, Andreev and Davydenko aren't quite as familiar with each other. The duo hasn't played together much this season, but did pick up a win in their most recent match as they helped Russia beat France in April's Davis Cup quarterfinals. Davydenko, the world No. 4 and highest ranked player here, appeared to be an obvious selection for singles play.

However, Russian captain Shamil Tarpischev opted to go with Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny instead, considering Davydenko is a combined 0-11 against Roddick and Blake in his career. Perhaps Tarpischev should have thrown out the history books as Roddick claimed a straight sets victory over Tursunov on Friday. Blake completed the sweep later in the day by outlasting Youzhny in a thrilling four-set win that included three tiebreakers and lasted 3 hours, 28 minutes. The Americans 11-year drought in this competition is their longest in history, with the previous dry spell occurring from 1926-37. Russia is the defending champion of this event and has won two of the last five titles. With an improbable comeback, Russia would be the first back-to-back winner since Sweden successfully defended the Davis Cup in 1997-98.