The United States have captured the Davis Cup, dethroning defending champions Russia to end a 12-year drought in the competition. A doubles victory by Bob and Mike Bryan gave the Americans an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Russia in the best-of-five match World Group final.The outcome had seemed all but inevitable after Andy Roddick and James Blake posted singles victories on Friday. “I couldn’t be happier for these guys because they’ve been through it all together. It feels absolutely awesome,” said McEnroe.The Bryan twins delivered the third point with a 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-2 victory over Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev. On Friday, Roddick beat Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 and Blake defeated Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3). The Bryans were heavy favorites over Davydenko and Andreev, who were playing together for the first time since April. The Russians were able to push the US duo in the opening set, as neither team surrendered a service break en route to the tiebreaker. The Russians took a 3-1 lead in the tiebreaker before the Americans won six of the next seven points. The Bryans broke Davydenko in the opening game of the second set and the Russians couldn’t convert their only break chance, against Bob Bryan’s serve in the sixth game. Despite his world No. 4 ranking in singles, Davydenko had been left out of the singles lineup by Russian captain Shamil Tarpischev, and it was Davydenko’s serve that the Bryans were able to pounce on again in the third set.They broke him twice to seal the victory and spark a celebration by the US team on the court at Memorial Coliseum as Roddick, Blake and McEnroe savored their first Davis Cup triumph to the cheers and chants of the 12,000-strong crowd.
