After Andre Agassi stumbled in his return to Davis Cup play, Andy Roddick stepped up to square things for the United States by beating Mario Ancic, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.
Ivan Ljubicic gave Croatia an early lead yesterday in the best-of-five, opening-round tie in Carson, Calif., by defeating Andre Agassi, 6-3, 7-6 (7-0), 6-3.
Andre Agassi struggled against big-serving Ivan Ljubicic, losing for just the sixth time in 36 Davis Cup matches.
(Kevork Djansezian -- AP)
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"Thank goodness we have Andy [Roddick] on the team," Agassi said after losing for just the sixth time in 36 Davis Cup matches.
Agassi, absent from Davis Cup play for five years, 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."
The first round resumes today, with twins Mike and Bob Bryan scheduled to face Ljubicic and Ancic in doubles. Roddick plays Ljubicic in tomorrow's first match, with Agassi slated to go against Ancic in the fifth and final match.
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 finished the second-set tiebreaker with a pair of aces.
Ljubicic, who has reached four finals this year, closed out the match with his 18th ace.
Although red, white and blue-clad fans made up the bulk of the crowd of 6,021, there were plenty of Croatian backers as Los Angeles has a large population of transplanted Croatians.
-- From News Services
