Davis Cup QF: Israel Finishes Stunning Beatdown of Russia

The Israeli Davis Cup team, previously best known for playing in an empty arena in Sweden, advanced to its first ever Davis Cup semifinal by sweeping 2006 Davis Cup champion Russia 3-0. The Russians may pick up a dead rubber or two tomorrow, but in the competitive matches they were completely shut out by the underdog Israelis.

The reunited team of Israelis Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram survived a determined comeback effort powered by Marat Safin and partner Igor Kunitsyn, winning the doubles rubber 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-4 in front of a raucous home crowd in Tel Aviv.

The way Israel shut out Russia makes this easily one of the most shocking upsets in all of sport for 2009. Israel was relegated outside of the World Group (the main division of sixteen countries who compete for the Davis Cup in a given year) as recently as 2007. Israel boasts only one player ranked within the top 200. Russia has eight players in the top 100, including three ranked higher than the highest-ranked Israeli, Dudi Sela. Only one of those three players ranked above Sela, Igor Andreev, decided to play for Russia in this quarterfinal.

The Russian Davis Cup team made back to back finals in 2006 and 2007, and had not lost before the semifinals since 2004. This loss comes at a time when a Russian man has only made one slam semifinal in the last seven slams (Safin, Wimbledon 2008), and when no Russian man has made a slam final since 2005 (Safin, Australian Open). Safin, the last Russian player to flirt with greatness at the highest levels and their perennial Davis Cup workhorse, is set to retire at the end of the year.

So where does his departure leave Russian men's tennis? Not in a good place, for now. Nikolay Davydenko, Dmitry Tursunov, and Igor Andreev have all presumably peaked. The only young up-and-comer to speak of, Igor Kunitsyn, has showed glimmers of potential in recent years, but lacks the power to ever be a serious contender in the second week of a slam.

Things aren't all bad for the sport in Mother Russia, obviously, as four of the top seven female players in the WTA rankings are Russians. A Russian complaining about their lack of men's tennis success would results would be like a Pittsburgher bemoaning the Pirates not matching the championships of the Steelers and Penguins. Hard to work up too much sympathy.

Davis Cup QF: Israel Stuns Russia, Leads 2-0

RUSSIA @ ISRAEL (ISRAEL LEADS 2-0)
Venue: Nokia Stadium, Tel Aviv, Israel (Indoor Hard)

Harel Levy (ISR) def. Igor Andreev (RUS) 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
Dudi Sela (ISR) def. Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 3-6, 6-1, 6-0, 7-5

What should have been at least one easy point for Russia turned into a jaw-dropping Israeli sweep on Day 1 of their Davis Cup quarterfinal in Tel Aviv, putting the host country in the driver's seat to close out the win on Saturday, in the doubles match featuring Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram that had previously been considered their only chance to score a point.

To put it mildly, Igor Andreev, ranked #24 in the world, had absolutely no business losing to #210 Harel Levy. Andreev, though best on clay, is no hard court slouch, pushing Roger Federer to five sets in the fourth round of the US Open last year. Harel Levy, on the other hand, is a complete slouch. He hasn't finished a year inside the top 100 since 2001. The highlight of Levy's year going into this event was qualifying for Halle by beating Lukas Lacko, then immediately losing to lucky loser Lukas Lacko (try saying that five times fast) in the first round.

Mikhail Youzhny, on the other hand, has some possible excuses. He'd been out with injury for a while, and Dudi Sela had been real hot. It was a winnable match for both, but Youzhny's failure to get the victory compounds Andreev's disastrous loss.

There are definitely some questions to be asked of generally well-thought-of Russian Davis Cup Captain Shamil Tarpischev should Russia get knocked out tomorrow. Starting with where Nikolay Davydenko and Dmitry Tursunov, both solid hard courters and Davis Cup players, were that prevented them from playing. On top of the embarrassing loss to Italy for the Russian Fed Cup team back in April, a team Tarpischev also coaches, it could prove to be a pretty rough summer for him.