Corretja Beats Sampras at Davis Cup

<br>HOUSTON (AP) _ Maybe playing on grass isn't so bad for Spain after all. <br><br>The United States chose a grass surface for its Davis Cup quarterfinals match with Spain because the surface favored

Saturday, April 6th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

HOUSTON (AP) _ Maybe playing on grass isn't so bad for Spain after all.

The United States chose a grass surface for its Davis Cup quarterfinals match with Spain because the surface favored the Americans. Spain's Alex Corretja foiled the strategy.

Corretja beat Pete Sampras 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5, 6-4 on Friday. The upset gave Spain a 1-1 tie with the Americans in the best-of-five series.

Saturday's only match will be doubles with Todd Martin and James Blake playing Corretja and Juan Balcells.

Now, Corretja is ready to play doubles.

``I'm capable,'' Corretja said. ``I've been playing on clay for many times and playing on clay is much harder than on grass. So I don't think I'm going to have any trouble physically.''

Andy Roddick gave the United States the early lead by beating Tommy Robredo 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7) in the opening match at Westside Tennis Club.

A Sampras victory would have given the Americans a chance to clinch the best-of-five in Saturday's doubles match.

``It would have given us a 2-love lead and put them against the wall,'' Sampras said. ``We've given them confidence. We're still in good shape and there is no reason to panic. I just felt I let the team down. We could have put the pressure on them.''

Corretja started to come alive in the third set while Sampras, who has won seven Wimbledon titles on grass, showed signs of wear.

Corretja hit a passing shot for a winner in the third game and raised a fist into the air. He held serve in that game and eventually forced a tiebreaker in the set.

``Although Alex was down in the first two sets, he had two games where he was actually up,'' Spain's captain, Jordi Arrese, said. ``I said 'Just stay focused' and he started to move forward.''

Corretja won the first six points in the tiebreaker as Sampras started missing his serve and the passing shots he hit so crisply earlier in the match. In the fifth set, Sampras double faulted at break point, giving Corretja a 3-2 lead.

``When I got ahead 6-0 in the tiebreaker, I felt I had a chance to win the match,'' Corretja said. ``I think he was starting to slow down his second serve, and I thought I could have a nice time to return.''

Corretja ended the match with an ace.

After Saturday's doubles, the match will end with two more singles matches on Sunday.

Roddick lost only two points on his serve in the first set and finished the match with an 11-4 edge in aces. The American ended it on his third match point, ripping a forehand passing shot winner off Robredo's volley.

``I served well,'' Roddick said. ``I controlled the match on my serve. He had one break point and I came up with a big serve there. That put a lot of pressure on him.''

It's only the second time since 1959 that the United States is playing a home Davis Cup match on grass. In 1991, the U.S. squad beat Spain 4-1 in Newport, R.I.

The last time the countries met, in the 2000 semifinals on clay, Spain blanked the United States 5-0 en route to its only Davis Cup championship. The United States has 31 Davis Cup titles.

The U.S.-Spain winner will play either defending champion France or the Czech Republic in the semifinals. France and the Czech Republic were tied 1-1 after Friday.

In the other quarterfinals Friday, Russia led Sweden 2-0, and Argentina took a 2-0 lead against Croatia.

At Pau, France, Sebastien Grosjean beat Bohdan Ulihrach 6-3, 3-6, 0-6, 6-3, 6-1, and the Czechs tied it with Jiri Novak's 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-7 (5), 7-5 victory over Nicolas Escude.

At Moscow, Russia made a strong start on clay with victories by Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Safin avenged his loss in the Australian Open final, beating Thomas Johansson 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, while Kafelnikov topped Thomas Enqvist 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-1.

At Buenos Aires, also on clay, Argentina's Gaston Gaudio defeated Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-3 and Juan Ignacio Chela took Ivo Karlovic 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, limited by shoulder trouble, will play doubles Saturday.