Powerhouse doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan came through for the United States again.

The top-ranked twins gave the U.S. team a 2-1 lead over Switzerland yesterday 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.

The Bryans became the winningest U.S. Davis Cup doubles team at 15-2, passing John McEnroe/Peter Fleming and Wilmer Allison/John Van Ryn, and improved to 16-1 overall this year.

Andy Roddick will try to clinch the series against Wawrinka today and send the United States on to the quarterfinals against Croatia in July. Mike Bryan went so far as to guarantee Roddick, who has 30 Davis Cup singles wins, will lock up the match.

"We call him the closer," Bryan said. "When we put them up, 2-1, he always shuts it down for us."

If not, James Blake will try to do it against Marco Chiudinelli in the final match. Blake lost the opener to Wawrinka while Roddick beat Chiudinelli in straight sets Friday.

The winner will play at Croatia, a 3-0 winner against Chile, July 8-10.

Sweden took a 2-1 lead against Israel by winning the doubles as police held off dozens of anti-Israel protesters who tried to storm the barricades outside the 4,000-seat Baltic Hall in Malmo.

American Shani Davis set a world record in the 1,000 meters at the speed skating World Cup in Kearns, Utah, breaking the mark U.S. skater Trevor Marsicano held for about 20 minutes. Davis, who set a world record in the 1,500 meters Friday, finished in 1:06.42 for his second record in two days at the Utah Olympic Oval. The record had briefly belonged to Marsicano, who skated early in the 1,000 pairings and finished in 1:06.88, 0.12 seconds faster than the mark Finland's Pekka Koskela set on the same track in November 2007.

Doug Logan, the CEO of USA Track and Field, has proposed a home-and-home track series this year between sprinters from America and Jamaica, home of world-record holder Usain Bolt in the 100 and 200 meters. Logan proposed two meets, one in the Southeastern United States and another in Jamaica, to take place in May and June. They would use a team scoring system.

I Want Revenge won the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Race Track in New York and moves on the road to the Kentucky Derby. This colt from California took the lead from Mr. Fantasy in the stretch and poured it on for an 8Â 1/2-length victory over Imperial Council. The winning time for the 11/16 miles was 1:42.65. I Want Revenge paid $8.30 for a $2 win ticket.

A party atmosphere swirled around Alaska's largest city at the start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across Alaska, when 67 mushers and more than 1,000 dogs set their sights for Nome. Two-time defending champion Lance Mackey said he is going into the 2009 Iditarod with the same attitude as always: "Expect the worst and hope for the best."

The real racing begins today at the restart in Willow, about 50 miles north of Anchorage. The Iditarod field this year is down from a record 96 teams in 2008. There are 52 veterans and 15 rookies entered. Thirteen are women.