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Levy gives Israel the lead

Russia was Davis Cup champion in 2002 and 2006
Israel has reached the quarterfinal stage just once

TEL AVIV: Israel’s Harel Levy pulled off a 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 upset victory over Russia’s Igor Andreev to give the host an unlikely 1-0 lead in their best-of-five Davis Cup quarterfinal tie at the Nokia Arena here on Friday.

“I surprised myself,” said Levy on the unexpected win.

“He was a big favourite but I believed we’re here in Israel, it’s the Davis Cup. He had a lot of pressure on him and I had less.”

Levy outplayed Andreev for much of the match with the Russian flinging his racquet to the ground after he lost a service game in the fourth set to go 4-1 down.

Russia has made it to the semifinals in each of the past five years, winning the competition in 2002 and 2006.

Israel has never advanced past the quarterfinals, a stage it reached only once before in 1987, only to be beaten 4-0 by India in New Delhi.

Verdasco rallies to win

Meanwhile in Marabella, Fernando Verdasco rallied to beat Andreas Beck 6-0, 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-1 to give defending champion and host Spain a 1-0 lead in its quarterfinal against Germany.

Beck seemed nervous at the start of his first Davis Cup match as the ninth-ranked Verdasco needed just 22 minutes to win the first set.

But the 23-year-old German settled to break Verdasco for a 4-2 lead in the second before drawing level in the match.

The 51st-ranked Beck maintained his good momentum on the outdoor clay to take the third, before Verdasco steadied to complete the win at the Puerto Banus bullring in 3 hours, 10 minutes.

The results:

At Tel Aviv (Israel): Israel leads Russia 1-0 (Harel Levy bt Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2)

At Marabella (Spain): Spain leads Germany 1-0 (Fernando Verdasco bt Andreas Beck 6-0, 3-6, 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-1). — Agencies

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