“That’s the Davis Cup,” said U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe of the nearly four hour match.
“Crazy things happen. But it’s one match. It wasn’t as if Pete wasn’t giving the effort, it just didn’t click and Alex came up with great shots.”
Earlier, behind a booming serve and a new-found net game, Andy Roddick overcame Tommy Robredo 6-3 7-5 7-6 in the opening rubber.
In taking down the mighty Sampras on imported British grass at Houston’s Westside Tennis Club, Corretja accomplished what was thought to be nearly impossible before the tie began.
Although Corretja said before the match that he was capable of taking any player on any given surface in one match, the two-time French finalist has avoided playing on grass for most of his career, skipping Wimbledon the last three years.
Appearing to be almost completely out of the match after dropping the first two sets and not able to get a read on Sampras’ serve, Corretja fought his way into the third set with precise serving, leaping returns, deft volleys and rolling passing shots.
He clawed his way into the tiebreaker and watched Sampras commit a slew of unforced errors to give him a 6-0 lead.
Sampras battled back to 6-4, but then Corretja crushed a forehand return winner to take the set.
Sampras was clearly dejected by his failure to close out the match and the fist-pumping Corretja played more ambitious and clever tennis in the next two sets.
In the fourth set, Sampras was broken to 4-5 when he double faulted, but a nervous Corretja was broken back when he clunked a forehand into the net.
But Corretja roared back, crushing a backhand return winner down the line to break Sampras and regain a lead in the set.
Corretja needed four set points to close out the set, but Sampras handed it to him when he missed a backhand down the line.
With the sellout crowd of 6,000 imploring him to get back into the contest in the fifth set, Sampras tried to re-establish the authority on his own service games, but Corretja was adeptly reading his serve and Sampras was losing significant pace off his second serve.
Sampras held break points at 0-1 and 1-2, but Corretja came up with winners.
At 2-2, Corretja ripped a return winner to gain a break point and then Sampras double faulted.
The set continued on serve until Corretja closed out the match with a booming ace.
Usually content to bash from the baseline, Roddick played an aggressive, heady contest against his fellow 19-year-old Robredo, winning 44 of his 57 net approaches and 89 percent of his first serve points.
First day’s results:
World Group (quarterfinals)
US level Spain at 1-1
Results (American names first): Andy Roddick beat Tommy Robredo 6-3 7-5 7-6 (9-7); Pete Sampras lost to Alex Corretja 6-4 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 5-7 4-6
Argentina lead Croatia 2-0
(Argentine names first): Gaston Gaudio beat Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 6-3; Juan Ignacio Chela beat Ivo Karlovic 5-7 6-4 6-4 6-2
France lead Czech Republic 2-1:
Result (French names first):
Saturday’s doubles: Mickael Llodra/ Fabrice Santoro beat Jiri Novak/David Rikl 6-3 6-1 6-4
Friday’s singles: Sebastien Grosjean beat Bohdan Ulihrach 6-3 3-6 0-6 6-3 6-1; Nicolas Escude lost to Jiri Novak 6-7 (4-7) 1-6 7-6 (7-5) 5-7
Russia lead Sweden 3-0
Results (Russian names first):
Saturday’s doubles: Yevgeny Kafelnikov/ Marat Safin beat Jonas Bjorkman/Thomas Johansson 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 6-3
Friday’s singles: Marat Safin beat Thomas Johansson 6-4 6-4 6-4; Yevgeny Kafelnikov beat Thomas Enqvist 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 6-1—Reuters