Bryan twins double win keeps U.S. alive v Spain

Austin: American twins Bob and Mike Bryan won Saturday`s doubles match over Spain to keep alive their team`s Davis Cup quarter-final heading into the final day of reverse singles.

Trailing 2-0 after losing both singles matches on Friday, the United States needed to win the doubles to maintain any hope in the best-of-five tie and the Bryan brothers, fresh from winning Wimbledon for the second time, played their part. They beat the Spanish combination of Marcel Granollers and Fernando Verdasco 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to reduce the deficit to 2-1 heading into Sunday. "We were pretty jacked up. It`s Davis Cup. We came out hyped," Mike Bryan told a news conference. "It feels good to do our job. We`re on the scoreboard now." David Ferrer, Spain`s top-ranked player for the tie in the absence of Rafa Nadal, is due to play Mardy Fish on Sunday before Feliciano Lopez squares off with Andy Roddick in the final rubber.The eventual winner will play France in the semi-finals. Lopez, who won a grueling five setter with Fish on Friday, was originally listed to play the doubles but Spanish captain Albert Costa decided to replace him with Granollers to conserve his energy for the final day. "I`m not feeling that we are the favorites now. I feel like tomorrow we`ll have two very difficult matches," Costa said. "We hope that David is going to win the first one. If not, Feli (Lopez) or Fernando (Verdasco) can play. Also Marcel can play." The odds are still stacked against the U.S. but team captain Jim Courier said he still had faith in his team to pull it off. "I didn`t go to college so history is not my thing," he said. "We came here with a job to do, which is to get three. We have one. There`s two more matches to play. It`s pretty easy math."I think the matchups for us are good tomorrow. I`m happy with them. Probably happier than the matchups on Friday, to be candid." Bureau Report