By DPA
Portland (Oregon) : The US broke a 12-year drought with a Davis Cup title win Saturday as the Bryan brothers completed a 3-0 sweep of Russia in the final.
Bob and Mike Bryan won their 13th career match against just one loss in the competition, with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev.
“It’s difficult to explain how we feel right now,” said Mike, who was unable to play in the season-ending ATP event last month in Shanghai due to an elbow injury. “We will remember this for the rest of our lives.”
Victory for the hosts marked the 32nd Davis Cup trophy for the Americans, who last won it in 1995 over the Russians with a team led by Pete Sampras.
The hosts were able to put the tie away in short order on the second day after opening wins Friday from Andy Roddick and James Blake.
The experienced Bryan pair was no match for the Russian pickup side of Davydenko – the team’s top player left off the singles roster – and Andreev, whose best surface is clay.
The Americans won the opening set in a tiebreaker as Andreev double-faulted on the fast hard court, then took control for the remainder of the contest, beginning the second set with a break of Davydenko.
Davydenko surprisingly proved to be the weakest link as he lost serve two more times on the way to defeat.
The sold-out stadium of 13,000 erupted in the moment of victory with fireworks plus red, silver and blue confetti amid a wall of noise.
Russia was defending their title in the worldwide team series after beating Argentine in Moscow a year ago.
Sunday’s meaningless reverse singles matches will be played in a shortened format over the best of three sets.