Israel lead Japan 2-1 in Davis Cup play-offs

Jonathan Erlich teamed up with Andy Ram to win the doubles rubber and give Israel a 2-1 lead over Japan in the Davis Cup World Group play-offs on Saturday in Tokyo. Erlich and Ram stormed back from a set down to emerge 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 winners over Tatsuma Ito and Yuichi Sugita in the best-of-five contest. With the highly rated Kei Nishikori taking a rest because of a shoulder problem, Japan's number two Go Soeda defeated Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the opening match on Friday. But Amir Weintraub, ranked a lowly 188th in the world, pulled off an upset by beating the 68th-ranked Ito 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to make it even at 1-1. Japan will now hope that Nishikori will be back on court for Sunday's two reverse singles -- he will play Sela and Soeda will play Weintraub, with the teams vying for a ticket to the World Group.