Martin Rises To Occasion Vs. Sweden His Victory Over Enqvist Puts U.S. In Final Against The Russians, Who Upset Germany

With a shirtless, bandaged Andre Agassi watching from courtside, Todd Martin stepped in to beat Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist in straight sets Sunday to win the Davis Cup semifinal for the United States.

Martin, who found out he would play only 90 minutes before the match, clinched a berth against Russia in the Davis Cup finals for the U.S. team with a 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) win before a flag-waving crowd at the outdoor court at Caesars Palace.

“It’s the best feeling I’ve had in the game of tennis,” Martin said after becoming the unlikely hero on a team stacked with the top two players in the world.

The win put the United States in the finals beginning Dec. 1 in Moscow against Russia, which came back from a 2-0 deficit to win the final three matches and stun Germany in the other semifinal.

It is the first Davis Cup final for the United States since 1992, when Agassi, Pete Sampras and John McEnroe teamed to beat Switzerland in the final.

Agassi, who pulled a chest muscle in Friday’s win over Mats Wilander, woke up Sunday to find the injury worse and decided he could not play.

“It’s disappointing because you want to go out there and play,” Agassi said. “We all felt confident in Todd. He’s a great backup singles player.”

Martin, who was on the losing side in Saturday’s doubles match, was told after the match by U.S. captain Tom Gullikson that he might have to play. But he went to bed Saturday night still not sure about Agassi’s status.

“I was in limbo,” Martin said. “After I took a fair beating at the casino tables I figured I’d better get prepared for it in case I played. Of course, I didn’t have any money left.”

Martin, the world’s 19th-ranked player, took advantage of some crucial mistakes by Enqvist late in the first and second sets to turn the day’s second match between Sampras and Wilander into nothing more than an exhibition.

A relaxed Sampras won that match, rallying past Wilander 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. U.S. players won all four singles matches in the semifinal, losing only Saturday’s doubles match.

Down 5-4 in the first set, Martin fought off two set points, one on a disputed call, to pull even. He broke Enqvist in the second game, then captured the set when the Swede netted a return of serve.

The scenario nearly repeated itself in the second set, as Martin took advantage of a double-fault by Enqvist with the games 5-5 before delivering a backhand winner to break his serve.

“A lot of good things happened at the right time early,” Martin said. “I think that got him a little dejected.”< With the sun-baked crowd of 11,503 going wild between points, Martin avoided another set point against an increasingly tentative Enqvist to tie the third set 6-6. He quickly opened a 3-1 lead in the tiebreaker, finally capturing the match with a backhand that nestled just inside the line.

“He served very well and I had a lot of chances, but I didn’t take them,” Enqvist said.

Martin, who had lost the deciding match to Sweden in last year’s semifinal, tossed his racket high and hugged Gullikson and Agassi. He then buried his face in a towel, crying tears of joy.

Agassi, who will take a couple weeks off to mend his pulled muscle, said both he and Sampras planned to play in the finals.

“I am kind of in a sense glad we are playing Russia because we never played them before and Germany has been around a long time and I think it is going to be an exciting final,” Agassi said.

Martin, meanwhile, isn’t even guaranteed a spot on the team in the finals despite his heroics.

Martin and Jonathan Stark lost in the doubles Saturday, and Gullikson could decide to use another pair against Russia. And, with Agassi and Sampras playing singles, he has no shot at one of those spots.

At Moscow, Andrei Chesnokov of Russia saved nine match points before completing an astonishing comeback against Germany’s Michael Stich. Chesnokov won 6-4, 1-6, 1-6, 6-3, 14-12 in 4 hours, 18 minutes.

The Germans, who led 2-0 and also had a 4-2 lead in the fifth set of the doubles, were pulled back to 2-2 when Yevgeny Kafelnikov overpowered Bernd Karbacher, a replacement for injured Boris Becker, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.

Becker pulled out after aggravating a back injury following long matches two straight days.

MEMO: Cut in Spokane edition