By Xinhua
Beijing : Defending champions Russia were struggling as they lagged 1-2 behind Germany in the Davis Cup semi-final after the doubles in Moscow.
In the other semi-final in Gothenburg, the US moved closer to the final Saturday as the Bryan twins gave them a 2-1 lead over Sweden.
In Moscow, Russia veteran doubles pairing of Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny fell 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) to German scratch combination of Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Waske.
Tursunov said: “It’s very upsetting to lose to a pair. It’s useless to look for excuses. We just failed today.”
Igor Andreev gave Russia the first point on Friday with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 win over Tommy Haas, before Philipp Kohlschreiber levelled 1-1 when he battled past world number four Nikolay Davydenko 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
Russia must win both reverse singles, with Davydenko and Andreev meeting Haas and Kohlschreiber respectively.
For the US, Mike and Bob Bryan beat Swedish doubles specialists Simon Aspelin and Jonas Bjorkman 7-6 (13-11), 6-2, 6-3 to extend their impressive Davis Cup doubles win-loss record to 12-1.
“I think that was our best Davis Cup match by far,” said Mike Bryan. “We played two great sets so we’re very happy.”
Former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson kept Swedish hopes alive on Friday by defeating James Blake 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to level the scoreboard 1-1 after Andy Roddick put the Americans ahead by beating Joachim Johansson 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.
In the reverse singles, Roddick will meet Thomas Johansson first before Blake takes either Joachim Johansson or Jonas Bjorkman.