Bryan twins keep U.S. hopes alive

The no.1 doubles team in the world, kept alive the U.S. Davis cup teams hope with Bob and Mike Bryan knocking out Russia's Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, on Saturday. The Americans are now trailing 2-1, heading into reverse singles.

On Friday, Safin beat Roddick 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (5) and Youzhny beat Blake 7-5, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5, putting the U.S. team down 2-0. The Bryan brothers put up a great show in their must-win match and kept the U.S. hopes alive.

"Do I need to pay you for that clinic?" U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe asked the Bryans after their 89-minute victory. "It was such a great performance."

The top ranked Bryan brothers brought another chance to the U.S. team with their victory. "Andy and James kept coming up to us and saying, 'Give us a chance, give us another shot, let us redeem ourselves.' And that's kind of what we went into the match thinking all the time," Bob Bryan said.

Roddick is scheduled to play Mikhail Youzhny today, but according to the American, Russia might choose its clay-court specialist Nikolay Davydenko to fight him. Blake will face Marat Safin on the red clay in the Olympic stadium.

"To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised either way," said U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe. "Andy is very familiar with both players. It's really a matter of Andy just coming out and playing his game, trying to stay composed, relaxed but intense."

Russia has not lost at home in 10 years, and needs to win one of the matches today to secure its first berth in the Davis Cup final. It has only won a single title, which was against France in 2002.

U.S. won both of its previous meetings with Russia. The two teams had not met since the 1995 final, which the Americans won, 3-2, at the same venue, also on clay. The winner will face Argentina, which beat Australia 3-0, in the final in December.