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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 11:14 a.m., Saturday, March 7, 2009

Tennis: Bryan brothers stake U.S. to Davis Cup lead

By JOHN ZENOR
AP Sports Writer

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Powerhouse doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan came through for the United States again.

The top-ranked twins gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead over Switzerland today in the opening round of the Davis Cup, beating Yves Allegro and Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2) on in the best-of-five series.

The Bryans became the winningest U.S. Davis Cup doubles team at 15-2, passing John McEnroe/Peter Fleming and Wilmer Allison/John Van Ryn, and improved to 16-1 overall this year.

Andy Roddick will try to clinch the series against Wawrinka on Sunday and send the U.S. on to the quarterfinals against Croatia in July. Mike Bryan went so far as to guarantee Roddick, who has 30 Davis Cup singles wins, will lock up the match.

"We call him the closer," Bryan said. "When we put them up 2-1, he always shuts it down for us. He's going to bring everything he has tomorrow. And I guarantee he's going to shut it down tomorrow."

If not, James Blake will try to do it against Marco Chiudinelli in the final match. Blake lost the opener to Wawrinka while Roddick beat Chiudinelli in straight sets Friday.

The winner will play at Croatia, a 3-0 winner over Chile, on July 8-10.

The Bryan twins' victory was a good sign for the U.S., which has a 180-22 Davis Cup record after winning the doubles point and is below .500 when it loses.

The match had turned tight until the tiebreaker, when the U.S. tandem won the first four points.

Switzerland broke that streak when Bob Bryan lost control of his racket on a leaping overhead volley, but he iced it with an overhead shot a few minutes later.

Wawrinka, who captured the Olympic gold medal in doubles with Roger Federer, has only won one of four Davis Cup doubles matches. The No. 2-ranked Federer is out with an ailing back.

The Bryans dominated their service games. The Swiss managed only two points against the Bryans' serve in the first set and eight in 13 service games before Wawrinka and Allegro took command of the third set after finally breaking Mike Bryan's serve.