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US, Germany move closer to Davis Cup final place

The US and Germany each won their doubles matches on Saturday to move within one point of reaching the Davis Cup final.

Top-ranked doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan gave the US a 2-1 lead in Sweden by beating Simon Aspelin and Jonas Bjorkman 7-6 (11), 6-2, 6-3, and Germany went ahead 2-1 against defending champions Russia when Alexander Waske and Philipp Petzschner defeated Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5).

In the World Group playoffs, Roger Federer and Yves Allegro wasted a match point in the third set and eventually lost to Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-4 to hand the Czech Republic a 2-1 lead over Switzerland.

Tim Henman, a four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist who was likely playing in his last competitive match, teamed up with Jamie Murray to send Britain into the World Group with an insurmountable 3-0 lead over Croatia at Wimbledon.

In Belgrade, Novak Djokovic helped Serbia take a 2-1 lead over Australia by joining with Nenad Zimonjic to beat Lleyton Hewitt and Paul Hanley 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

The Bryan twins, who are 12-1 in Davis Cup doubles for the US, saved three set points in the tiebreaker on the Scandinavium arena's fast indoor carpet.

Aspelin then netted a forehand volley off Mike Bryan's excellent service return on the Americans' fourth set point.

The US pair broke Bjorkman's serve twice to win the second set. In the third, Bjorkman dropped his serve for the third time, and the Americans held the rest of the way.

Petzschner, making his Davis Cup debut for Germany, lost only five points on his serve in the first three sets. Waske, however, wasn't so dominating with his.

The hosts capitalized on the German's poor serve to win the second set, then forced a tiebreaker in the third after saving a break point in the seventh game. The Russians then had a break point in the third game of the fourth set, but could not capitalize.

Federer and Allegro had a match point at 6-5 in the third-set tiebreaker, but the Czechs held on and won the set.

In the fourth set, Allegro double-faulted to give the Czechs a 2-1 lead. The hosts then broke Allegro for the second time to go ahead 4-3 in the final set before Berdych won with a powerful serve that Federer failed to return.

"We haven't been knocked out yet," Federer said. "It's open."

Henman hit a forehand winner on the final shot in his last match before retirement. He and Murray beat Marin Cilic and Lovro Zovko 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-5.

"Today was an incredible atmosphere and the quality of tennis was equally high," the 33-year-old Henman said. "To finish with Britain back in the World Group is just fantastic."

Serbia trailed by a set and a break, but the hosts held on to their serve for the rest of the match and broke the Australians six times.

"Everyone knows that my priority are the singles, so this victory is very important for me," Djokovic said.

In the other playoffs on Saturday, it was: Austria 3, Brazil 0; Israel 2, Chile 1; Japan 2, Romania 1; Slovakia 1, South Korea 2; and Peru 2, Belarus 1.
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