Friday, July 21 2006 14:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Andy Murray is confident he can repeat his performance of over a year ago and steer Great Britain to a Davis Cup victory over Israel when the countries clash at Eastbourne, starting Friday.

In the absence of Tim Henman (retired from Davis Cup competition) and Greg Rusedski (hip injury), 19-year-old Murray, now ranked 35 in the world, will be expected to win both his singles matches against Israel's Andy Ram and Noam Okun.

The teenage Scot made his Davis Cup debut against Israel in Tel Aviv 16 months ago as a doubles player and, together with David Sherwood, achieved a surprise win over Ram and Jonathan Erlich as Great Britain won 3-2.

"Playing my first match in the Davis Cup for my country at 17 was pretty cool and this a big deal also," British number one Murray said Thursday ahead of the grasscourt clash at Devonshire Park.

"But I've had quite a bit of experience between the two events and don't feel any more responsibility as number one player than any of the other guys. We win together and we lose together. That is our attitude," he said.

However, Ram countered, "If we have one advantage against Murray it is that he will have 5,000 people in Eastbourne expecting him to win against us. That is a great pressure and it is all on his back."

The recent cross-border conflict in Israel and Lebanon has seen security stepped up as the local Sussex Police worked alongside the Israeli Embassy in London and tennis officials. Great Britain, if they lose to Israel, will have a relegation Euro-Africa zone play-off against Ukraine in September.

Although plenty of attention will be on Murray, it could be Alex Bogdanovic who holds the key to the tie.

The Great Britain number four opens the tie Friday against Okun, who beat him in straight sets in Tel Aviv.

After that defeat the Belgrade-born 22-year-old withdrew from the subsequent Davis Cup clash with Serbia and Montenegro, saying he was not ready for it.

But Bogdanovic said,"I'm a much better player now, winning a couple of Challengers early in the year and reaching a few quarter-finals."

"So I'm looking forward to it and I want revenge against him to get us off to a good start," he said.