Briefly: Doubles team comes through for U.S. tennis

Doubles team gives U.S. a Davis Cup advantage Powerhouse doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan came through for the U.S. again.

The top-ranked twins gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead over Switzerland on Saturday in the opening round of the Davis Cup, beating Yves Allegro and Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2) in the best-of-five series in Birmingham, Ala.

Andy Roddick will try to clinch the series against Wawrinka today and send the U.S. to the quarterfinals against Croatia in July. James Blake would face Marco Chiudinelli if Roddick doesn't clinch the match.

Mike Bryan predicted Roddick will clinch it.

"We call him the closer," Bryan said. "When we put him up 2-1, he always shuts it down for us. He's going to bring everything he has tomorrow. And I guarantee he's going to shut it down tomorrow."

Roddick is 10-0 with a chance to clinch a series on the final day and has 30 singles victories in the Davis Cup.

• Demonstrators clashed with police outside a near-empty stadium in Malmo, Sweden, as Sweden won a Davis Cup doubles match and took a 2-1 lead against Israel. Dozens of anti-Israel protesters tried to storm barricades outside Baltic Hall. Only 300 special guests were allowed inside because of security concerns.

Jeff Klauk (67) and Jeff Overton (70, with a triple bogey on the 11th hole and two birdies in his last three holes) were tied for second.

Yang bogeyed the third hole, birdied the 15th and made only pars otherwise.

• Katherine Hull had seven birdies en route to a 6-under-par 66 and a two-stroke lead over Angela Stanford after the third round of the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore.

• Mark O'Meara shot a 5-under 66 and shared the lead with Bernhard Langer at the Champions Tour Toshiba Classic in Newport Beach, Calif.

Brazilian Einstein wins Big 'Cap Brazilian-bred Einstein took charge down the stretch on the way to a one-length victory in Saturday's $1 million Santa Anita Handicap in Arcadia, Calif.

Einstein held off Champs Elysees down the stretch. Pacesetter Matto Mondo finished third. Einstein covered the 1¼ miles in 2:01.93 and paid $12, $7 and $4.60.

• I Want Revenge won the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Race Track in New York and advanced on the road to the Kentucky Derby. The winning time for the 11/16 miles was 1:42.65. The handlers of I Want Revenge had hopes for such success on the dirt of Aqueduct after the horse finished third on a synthetic track at Santa Anita. The Kentucky Derby is run on a dirt track. I Want Revenge paid $8.30 for a $2 win ticket.

Iditarod begins; today it gets serious A party atmosphere swirled around Alaska's largest city, Anchorage, at the start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, as 67 mushers and more than 1,000 dogs set their sights for Nome.

Saturday was mostly for the fans so that they can cheer on their favorite mushers, some of whom have rock star status in Alaska. Every two minutes, another team was released from the starting chute to go on a short run through Anchorage. Two-time defending champion Lance Mackey drew a big cheer.

The real racing begins today at the restart in Willow, about 50 miles north of Anchorage.