Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich reached the semifinal of the New Haven tournament after a nail-biting win against Michal Mertinak and Leos Friedl.
By ALLON SINAIram and erlich 88(photo credit: )
Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich reached the semifinal of the New Haven tournament on Wednesday after a nail biting win against Michal Mertinak and Leos Friedl.
The Israelis, who are ranked 2nd in the tournament, defeated Mertinak and Friedl 7-6, 3-6, 10-7 in the quarterfinals.
The first set was decided on a tiebreak, with Ram and Erlich taking it 7-5. Mertinak and Friedl got an early break in the second set and cruised with ease to a 6-3 win, sending the match into a deciding tiebreaker.
Ram and Erlich won the first five points of the match tiebreaker and seemed to be coasting to victory. But Mertinak and Friedl came all the way back to a one point deficit, trailing the Israelis 7-6. However Ram and Erlich held on to their nerve and serve an eventually won 10-7.
The Israelis got the chance to play Mertinak and Friedl in the quarterfinals after defeating Yves Allegro and Agustin Calleri 6-2, 6-3 in the first round late on Tuesday night.
Ram and Erlich's opponents in the semifinal will be number 4 seeds Julien Knowle and Jurgen Melzer.
The qualifying for the US Open continued late on Tuesday with partial success for the Israelis in first round actions. Noam Okun (257) defeated Alex Bogdanovic (142) 6-4, 6-2, Yevgenia Savransky (181) lost to Junri Namigata (235) 6-3, 6-7, 6-2, and Tzipi Obziler (135) overcame Adriana Serra Zanetti (591) 6-1, 6-2.
The draw for the first round of the US Open was also made on Wednesday. Israeli number one Shahar Pe'er will play a qualifier in the first round and Anna Smashnova will play number 7 seed Patty Schnyder.
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