Erlich & Ram Surprise Bryan Brothers
© Getty Images By Sandra Harwitt
Israelis Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram had an outstanding debut at the Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai on Sunday, upsetting the world’s top doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 6-1.
After playing the understudy role as the alternate team here last year, Erlich and Ram made qualifying for the year-end tournament a top priority for 2006. Winning four titles this season at Adelaide, Nottingham, New Haven and Bangkok helped their quest to make the field.
“We (had) been here last year,” Erlich said of their sideline position in 2005. “We saw how nice it is. How excited it is to play. We’re really hungry to play. I think everybody saw it today.”
Meanwhile, Bob and Mike Bryan’s bid to win a third Tennis Masters Cup title in four years hit a roadblock today with the loss, their fourth defeat in 10 matches played against the seventh-seeded Israeli team.
“We played a pretty solid second set and we thought we had it in control, but they came out hot in the third and got that one break and it kind of fell apart for us,” said a disappointed Bob Bryan. “Hopefully, we’ll make the semifinals but if we lose one more match, we don’t deserve to make it.”
After playing a tight first set that went down to a tiebreaker, which Erlich and Ram won, the Bryans took control of the second set. After the Israelis won their serve in the opening game, the Bryans won the next five games in a row before Erlich held onto his serve in the seventh game.
© Getty Images Tied at one set apiece, Erlich and Ram stepped up their game in the final set to the point that the Bryans never were a factor. From 1-1 in the third set, Erlich and Ram ran through the final five games of the match.
“I think it cannot get better than that,” said Erlich, of their impressive opening match against the world’s top team in Shanghai. “If we're starting by beat the Bryans in the first match. Obviously we're coming in kind of the underdogs. We really come strong today, we played with a lot of confidence. I think we pretty deserve to win and I think we played better than them throughout almost all the match.”
Bob Bryan could not disagree with Erlich’s assessment of the match, admitting he and his brother, Mike, were not at the top of their game.
“There’s definitely stuff, we can sharpen up a lot of things,” Bob Bryan said. “I don’t think we played badly today but I have to give them a lot of credit, they deserved to win it today.”
The Bryans outcome here, however, will have no bearing on their ending the year as the top doubles duo in the game for a second straight year, a position they secured prior to arriving in Shanghai.
The other doubles match on the opening day of the Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai was a three-set battle which Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett won 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-3 over Martin Damm and Leander Paes.
Both of these teams have had tremendous success in this their first year of partnering.
© Getty Images Hanley and Ullyett reached the final of their first tournament together in Adelaide last January, and went on to win five titles together to reach the Tennis Masters Cup.
The veterans Damm and Paes, who have won a combined 65 doubles titles on the ATP, have won two titles together this year to secure their berth in Shanghai.
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