Tennis: Location set for Davis Cup match-up against Spain

Pe'er, Sela face stiff competition in US tourneys.

By ALLON SINAI
Dudi Sela 248.88 (photo credit: AP)
Dudi Sela 248.88
(photo credit: AP)
The Spanish Tennis Federation announced on Wednesday that the city of Murcia will host the Davis Cup semifinal tie against Israel over the Rosh Hashana weekend of September 18-20. The tie will be staged at the Polaris World La Torre Golf Resort and will be played on clay in a 12,000-capacity stadium. Spain has won its last 16 home Davis Cup ties and its last 18 on clay in the competition. Separately, Shahar Pe'er and Dudi Sela both played in the US late Wednesday night. Pe'er faced world No. 10 Nadia Petrova in the second round of the LA Women's Tennis Championships, with Sela playing Australia's Lleyton Hewitt in the second round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington. Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich could have met in the semifinals of the doubles tournament in Washington, but both lost with their respective partners in the first round on Tuesday. Ram and Max Mirnyi lost 7-6 (2), 2-6, 10-7 to Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles, with Erlich and Jeff Coetzee retiring while trailing 4-3 in the first set after the Israeli injured his arm. Defending champion Juan Martin del Potro came from a set down to beat Taiwan's Yen-sun Lu on Tuesday and advance to the round of 16. The Argentine, seeded second, was given a bye to the second round where he met a more match-conditioned Lu and it showed in the opening set before del Potro recovered to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. The main upset of the day was qualifier Somdev Devvarman of India ousting sixth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia 7-5, 6-4 to also make the last 16. Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva scraped into the round of 16 in LA by the barest of margins on Tuesday, edging China's Peng Shuai 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6). In the other second round match on the day, sixth-seeded Ana Ivanovic was also extended to three sets to beat American Vania King 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. AP contributed to this report.