Ram and Erlich to try for sixth career doubles title

Ram and Erlich have won in Rotterdam and Nottingham, and reached finals in Los Angeles, Montreal and Bangkok.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
ram, ehrlich 298 (photo credit: )
ram, ehrlich 298
(photo credit: )
Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich will face top seeds Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor in the final of the BA-CA Tennis Trophy in Vienna on Sunday, seeking their third title of the year. The second seeded Israelis topped the fourth seeds, Argentineans Gaston Etlis and Martin Rodriguez, 3-5, 5-2, 5-3 in a semifinal on Saturday. So far this year Ram and Erlich have won in Rotterdam and Nottingham, while reaching finals in Los Angeles, Montreal and just two weeks ago in Bangkok. They have won five career ATP Tour titles together. The three wins in Vienna keep the Israelis in contention for one of the top eight spots in the ATP Doubles Race and a spot in the year-end Masters Cup in Shanghai. Ram and Erlich are currently ninth, but could climb as high as sixth with a win, depending upon the results of Sunday's Stockholm Open final. Their career record against Knowles from the Bahamas and Canada's Nestor is 2-2, including a 7-6(8), 7-6(2), 7-6(7) win in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2003. The doubles final will be preceded by the singles title match between Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero and Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia (live at 2 p.m. on Eurosport). In women's action, Shahar Pe'er missed out on a chance to overtake Anna Smashnova as the top ranked Israeli player when she lost to Italian Antonella Serra Zanetti in the quarterfinals of the Thailand Open in Bangkok 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 on Friday. Pe'er, ranked 48th by the WTA, would have passed Smashnova (45) with a win. The loss was Pe'er's fifth this year in a quarterfinal round. The teenager has never reached the singles semifinals at a WTA Tour event.