Israel's Harel Levy pulled off a 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 upset victory over Russia's Igor Andreev to give the hosts a surprising 1-0 lead in the Davis Cup quarterfinal matchup.
Levy, who is ranked 210th in ATP rankings, scored Israel's first-ever victory at the quarterfinal level, defeating the 24th-ranked Russian in the opening match at the Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv.
Israel's top player, Dudi Sela, will take on Mikhail Youzhny in the second match of the day as Israel attempt to make history and advance to the semifinals of the Davis Cup for the first time.
Russia are ranked number one in Davis Cup standings with 27, 897 points while Israel are eighth with only 5,394 points.
Verdasco puts hosts spain ahead
Marbella (Spain): Fernando Verdasco rallied to beat Andreas Beck 6-0, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1 to give Davis Cup holders Spain a 1-0 lead in their quarterfinal against Germany.
Beck's nerves in his first Davis Cup match were evident as the ninth-ranked Verdasco needed 22 minutes to win the first set to love.
{{/usCountry}}Beck's nerves in his first Davis Cup match were evident as the ninth-ranked Verdasco needed 22 minutes to win the first set to love.
{{/usCountry}}But the 23-year-old German broke Verdasco for a 4-2 lead before evening the match when the Spaniard hit out.
The 51st-ranked Beck maintained momentum on the outdoor clay to take the third set in a tiebreaker before Verdasco finally steadied to take it at the Puerto Banus bullring in 3 hours, 10 minutes.