Roddick provides big relief at Cup

CARSON, Calif. – Andre Agassi is glad his former Davis Cup practice partner became a full-fledged member.

“Thank goodness we have Andy (Roddick) on the team,” Agassi said Friday after losing to Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets.

While Agassi stumbled in his return to Davis Cup play, Roddick stepped up to square things for the Americans by beating Mario Ancic 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.

“The whole point of team competition is to pick your teammates up,” said Roddick, whose first Davis Cup exposure was as a 17-year-old practice partner in 2000.

Ljubicic downed Agassi 6-3, 7-6 (7-0), 6-3 in the match of Croatia’s No. 1 player against the U.S. team’s No. 2, the first of two singles on the first round’s opening day.

Agassi said he never got in rhythm against Ljubicic.

“I was useless, to be quite honest, as being clear on what was going on out there,” Agassi said. “On top of it, Ljubicic is playing good.

“You’re here to help the team. I might be called on to do that again on Sunday. I sure hope to do better.”

The first round resumes today, with twins Mike and Bob Bryan scheduled to face Ljubicic and Ancic in doubles.

Roddick will play Ljubicic in Sunday’s first match, with Agassi slated to go against Ancic in the fifth and final match if neither team has clinched.

Playing for the Americans for the first time in five years, Agassi lost the opening set after falling behind 3-0, then was up 5-2 in the second before the hard-serving Ljubicic won three games in a row.

Ljubicic dominated the second-set tiebreaker with his serve, finishing the 7-0 shutout with a pair of aces.

He overpowered Agassi again in the third set, putting an exclamation point on the victory with his 18th ace of the day to close out the match.

Ljubicic said Agassi obviously isn’t as quick as he once was, “but he’s still a great player.”

The loss was only the sixth in 36 Davis Cup matches for Agassi, who has played on three championship teams.

In other Davis Cup results, Slovakia leads Spain 2-0; Belarus and Romania are tied at 1; Sweden and France are tied at 1; Russia and Chile are tied at 1; Australia leads Austria 2-0; Argentina leads the Czech Republic 2-0; and Netherlands leads Switzerland 2-0.