U.S. pegged back by Spain
Alex Corretja rallied back from two sets down to stun seven-times Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-4 and haul Spain back to 1-1 with the U.S. in their Davis Cup quarter-final on Friday.
The shock victory was only the fourth time Corretja has won a match on grass in his 12-year career while Sampras was looking for his 100th win on the surface.
The defeat at the Westside Tennis Club in Houston, Texas, was only the second time that Sampras had lost a five set match on grass.
The U.S. had taken a 1-0 lead into that match after Andy Roddick had beaten Tommy Robredo 6-3 7-5 7-6 earlier on Friday.
Todd Martin and James Blake -- together for the first time in Davis Cup -- will try and nose the Americans in front on Saturday when they take on Corretja and Juan Balcells in the doubles.
As the U.S. stumbled, Russia took a major step towards the semifinals, taking a 2-0 lead over Sweden while defending champions France were pegged back to 1-1 by a gutsy Czech Republic performance in Pau.
WREAKED REVENGE
Croatia -- without the services of Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic in the singles -- trail Argentina 2-0.
Both Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov were in scintillating form in Moscow, winning their singles ties in straight sets.
The pair unite for Saturday's doubles against Johansson and Jonas Bjorkman in a match which could see them through to the last four of the men's team event.
Kafelnikov crushed Thomas Enqvist 7-6, 6-3, 6-1 in less than two hours after Marat Safin had earlier wreaked revenge on Thomas Johansson, beating the Swede 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
Johansson beat Safin in the final of the Australian Open at the start of the year but was no match for the mighty Russian on Friday.
"Thomas plays better on hard courts. I have more experience on clay," Safin said after the match on the Luzhniki Sports Palace clay courts.
Kafelnikov, desperate for a Davis Cup winners medal to round off his career, fulfilled his part of the deal.
"After I won the first set, I felt my confidence return and I was virtually dictating the pace of the match from then," he said.
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS
Enqvist knew where he had gone wrong.
"Against Kafelnikov, it is important to stay close," he lamented afterwards.
"The first half of the match was very even -- it was too bad I didn't stay close to him."
The winners will play either Argentina or Croatia for a place in the 2002 Davis Cup Final.
Defending champions France were set on their way when Sebastien Grosjean fought back from two sets to one down to beat Bohdan Ulihrach 6-3, 3-6, 0-6, 6-3, 6-1 in a three-hour marathon.
But Nicolas Escude failed to build on that lead and lost his unbeaten Davis Cup singles record as he slumped 7-6, 6-1, 6-7, 7-5 to Jiri Novak -- his first defeat in nine matches.
France, backed by 5,000 partisan fans, never looked at ease on the fast surface of Pau's sports hall.
"At one stage I felt a little bit scared as he (Ulihrach) played two greats sets but I stayed focused and I kept fighting to bring back this first point," a relieved Grosjean said after his match.
"During the third set, he impressed me... He hit all the balls and they were all inside the court. His first serve average was about 90 per cent.
"I didn't play badly in the third but it seemed that he could do no wrong. But I never gave it up."
Fabrice Santoro and Michael Llodra make their Davis Cup doubles debut as a team on Saturday hoping to give the hosts the edge against Novak and David Rikl.
Argentina swept into a 2-0 lead over Croatia thanks to victories by Gaston Gaudio and Juan Ignacio Chela.
Gaudio first overcame Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets to give Argentina the opening rubber in Buenos Aires.
After the pair had slogged their way through a 75-minute first set in blistering heat, Gaudio went on to seal an eventually comfortable 7-6 6-2 6-3 win.
"I knew it was important to win the first point," he said Gaudio.
Chela beat Ivo Karlovic in the second rubber.
Karlovic, 160 places below Chela in the ATP rankings, surprisingly took the first set before Chela hit back to win 5-7 6-4 6-4 6-2 and put Argentina within one rubber of their first Davis Cup semifinal since 1990.
