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Tennis

Inexperienced U.S. out of Davis Cup

ZAGREB, Croatia -- A Croatian fan sitting courtside waved a sign as James Blake was about to serve: "You can't beat without Pete."

The United States certainly didn't have Pete Sampras on Sunday when it was eliminated by Croatia in the first round of the Davis Cup.

These are different times for the Americans at the Davis Cup. Instead of Sampras or Andre Agassi, it was left to James Blake to keep their prospects alive.

Tampa's Blake, the team leader at 23, lost to Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-7 (7-5), 6-4, 6-3, assuring Croatia's advance. In a singles reduced to best-of-three, Mario Ancic defeated Taylor Dent 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-6 (12-10) to give Croatia a 4-1 victory. Dent replaced Mardy Fish.

At one point, Blake shouted at the fan with the Sampras banner, "Put the sign down!"

A fan in the stands replied, "Go home James."

The United States is indeed going home to regroup. It has more Davis Cups titles than any nation but has been ousted in the first round two of the past three years. Now the Americans face a playoff in September to stay in the elite 16-team group.

Croatia plays Spain in the quarterfinals. Neither Croatia nor the former Yugoslavia has reached the Davis Cup final.

In other World Group matches, it was Argentina 5, Germany 0; Australia 4, Britain 1; Russia 3, Czech Republic 2; France 4, Romania 1; Switzerland 3, the Netherlands 2; Spain 5, Belgium 0; and Sweden 3, Brazil 2.

In other quarterfinals in April, it will be Sweden vs. Australia, Switzerland vs. France and Argentina vs. Russia.

Since becoming U.S. Davis Cup captain two years ago, Patrick McEnroe has not won an away match. Against Croatia, he could not even turn to Andy Roddick, who was out with a wrist injury.

"This one hurts more than any of the other ones because I felt we could go all the way this year," he said. "But there is a thin line between doing that and losing in the first round."

Ljubicic was overpowering. He racked up 29 aces against Blake to go with 30 against Fish on Friday. He had 22 combining with Goran Ivanisevic in doubles Saturday.

Blake played his first Davis Cup match 15 months ago. No one else on the team had played a Davis Cup singles match before this year. The United States has not won this event since 1995, and Blake pledged a new generation would change that.

"We're going to come through one of these times," he said.

But Sunday he was undone by his opponent's serve on the fast indoor court.

In the third game of the third set Blake ended Ljubicic's run of 42 service games in the series without a break. But Ljubicic broke back to make it 4-4.

Blake then fell behind love-40. After his exchange with the fan, he never was the same. Ljubicic held serve in the next game, then broke Blake to win the set.

The final set was the most lopsided. A dispirited Blake netted a forehand to end the match.

"That comeback in the third set I think was the key of the match," Ljubicic said. "He slowed down a little bit, missed a couple of balls. I hit a great passing shot. It all happened very quick."

SERENA WINS TITLE: Serena Williams defeated Amelie Mauresmo 6-3, 6-2 to win the Gaz de France in Paris, her first tournament since capturing the Australian Open. Williams was undeterred by a noisy, partisan crowd, winning in 64 minutes.

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