Sela Gets Plenty of Support in Upset of Robredo

WIMBLEDON, England — Spurred by supporters who chanted biblical phrases and cheered for his backhand, the unseeded Dudi Sela of Israel beat 15th-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain, 7-6 (8), 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 on Friday.

Sela, ranked 46th in the world, combined solid ground strokes with a series of increasingly effective rushes to the net to push back Robredo from the possibility of a fifth set.

For much of the first two sets, a determined band of Sela supporters chanted songs in Hebrew. One, reportedly familiar to schoolchildren and parents alike, translated roughly: “David, King of Israel is alive and lives on!” Other chants went, simply, “Dudi Sela, he is great!” and “Dudi Sela, he is soul!”

Ronen Dorfan of the newspaper Israel Hayom, offered the translation.

Robredo began to show irritation at the singing, which often continued until a second before he was about to serve. Finally, with Sela leading, 4-3, in the second set, the chair umpire, Mohamed Lahyani, turned and warned the cheering section not to interfere with play. There was complete silence for several games, then only scattered cheers until the end of the match, which lasted almost three hours.

Robredo, whose strength is especially evident on clay, found the back court to his liking and remained mostly rooted to the baseline. Sela, meanwhile, began to recognize that his chances improved with rushes to the net. When Robredo began to come back in the third set, Sela began to chip service returns and ground strokes with regularity, racing forward and winning the majority of points, despite occasional errant volleys.

The fourth set started with double service breaks, Robredo breaking Sela at 30-40 in the first game on three unforced errors and a Robredo overhead smash. Sela struck back, breaking Robredo at 15-40 with a backhand volley winner, a cross-court backhand into a corner and a deft lob over Robredo’s reach.

The dueling continued on serve until Robredo broke Sela to lead 5-3, then immediately lost his serve back, double-faulting to give Sela the break point. Within minutes, Sela had danced back to tie the match at 5-5, crushing a backhand down the line that brought renewed life to Sela and his fans, who resumed light chanting.

Robredo’s four unforced errors on Sela’s serve gave his opponent the lead, 6-5. Serving to stay in the match, Robredo began to hit erratically. At 30-30, he aced Sela up the T, but then, at 40-40, the 27-year-old Robredo hit forehands into the net and over the baseline.

It was over. Suddenly three blue-and-white Israeli flags appeared in the stands. Sela bowed to his fans, throwing a wristband into the crowd. David Kraft, a producer for ESPN who also speaks Hebrew, said he thought he heard the phrase, “Dudi, King of Israel.”

Speaking to reporters a few minutes later, Sela confirmed the translation and said, with a chuckle: “I like to play when there is a lot of support, especially supporting me, not the other player!”

Sela’s next opponent, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, has supporters of his own, a cheering section of friends and relatives that have traveled as far as the United States Open in New York to cheer for their man.

Their fourth-round match at Wimbledon on Monday could be noisy.