Israel stays alive against Chile in Davis Cup

Tennis Betting Lines

03/07/2010 - Coquimbo, Chile (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Israeli doubles specialists Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram posted a big victory on Sunday, as the Israelis pulled within 1-2 of the host Chileans in their best-of-five first-round Davis Cup matchup.

Erlich and Ram fought back for a 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (11-9), 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over a Chilean tandem of Jorge Aguilar and Paul Capdeville.

Monday's reverse singles will decide the winner here, as Chilean Fernando Gonzalez will take on Dudi Sela in the first match and Nicolas Massu is scheduled to face Harel Levy in a possible deciding rubber.

On Saturday, Massu got the Chileans going with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Sela and Gonzalez doubled the hosts' advantage by overcoming Levy 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 on the red clay here in Coquimbo.

This week's matchup started a day late -- Saturday instead of Friday -- because of the tragic earthquake and tsunami that struck Chile last week, killing about 800 people. The Enjoy Tennis Center was unaffected by the disaster and the local airport was open, but transportation problems delayed the arrival of players and officials.

The Chileans are captained by Hans Gildemeister, while Eyal Ran is serving as the Israeli skipper.

Chile and Israel have split two all-time meetings, with the Chileans prevailing in 1960 and Israel, a surprise Davis Cup semifinalist last year, coming out on top three years ago.

The Chile-Israel winner will meet the Czech Republic in July's quarterfinals.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.