‘B’ Team Gives U.S. 2-0 Lead Against Britain in Davis Cup

BIRMINGHAM, England —  Scrub-a-dubs? Understudies? Sparring partners? Caddies for the absent Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, who chose not to play here? Maybe.

Nevertheless, Jim Courier and Todd Martin played their stand-in roles flawlessly and stole the show in leading the U.S. to a 2-0 Davis Cup lead over Britain.

Leave ‘em groaning was the Courier-Martin shtick at the National Indoor Arena as the uproarious crowd of 9,320 went home silent and empty after the second-stringers had strung up the favored Brits, Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski.

First it was Courier, seven years past his No. 1 days, proving what No. 7 Henman lamented: “I learned that the intensity is so high at this level of Davis Cup, the World Group, that the past, rankings, achievements mean nothing. It’s what happens on the day.”

What happened was a splendid melodrama lasting 4 hours 12 minutes, during which Henman slithered out of four match points in the 22-point, fourth-set tiebreaker. But at 5-5 in the fifth, Courier went into overdrive, seized the last eight points and victory, 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (12-10), 7-5.

“That was a boost for me,” said mop-up man Martin, team guy to the core who skipped the Lipton to rest strained abdominal muscles for this test. “Jim went on for a long time, but that was fine. The more anxious I get, the better I play.”

Better nobody has played against him, said No. 11 Rusedski, 1997 U.S. Open runner-up who was flattened, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, in 1:49. No. 8 Martin outdid the left-hander in every department, serving and volleying better in a match devoted to that style.

It was a tale of tall timber in which the 6-foot-6 Martin fell on the 6-4 Rusedski immediately, breaking Rusedski’s feared serve in the opening game.

“Wonderful day,” said U.S. captain Tom Gullikson, cautioning, “It’s not over,” as he remembered the 2-0 semifinal lead blown at Sweden five years ago.

Henman and Rusedski will try to pull their cause together today in doubles against Courier and Alex O’Brien--or maybe Courier and Martin. The reverse singles will be played Sunday.

The audience went berserk as Henman improbably rescued the fourth set, from Courier, coming in off the ledge of four match points. He took himself to the brink with three of his 16 double faults, and kept breathing with a service winner, two of his 25 aces and a backhand return.

“They acted like Tim had won the match,” Gullikson said. “But I said to Jim, ‘You haven’t lost. You’re no worse than even--and I like your chances.’ ”

“That helped,” Courier said. “I’ve been there before many times, and that helps you to stick in--but you have to have the shots too.

“Of course,” he added, laughing, “I’ve screwed up matches like that too.”

But at the crunch of a shot-making smorgasbord, the seventh game of the fifth set, Courier refused to bend. It was 3-3, 0-30.

“That was the point I needed,” he said.

And he got it with a patented backside-boogie forehand, sliding left to blast the ball inside-out diagonally past Henman. It was the shot that turned the match and the day toward the U.S. He swiftly got the next three points, to 4-4.

Though Henman was volleying sensationally, the rest was Courier. An ace and a service winner helped him to 6-5. A forehand passing shot was the beginning of Henman’s end, and a rifling backhand return the end.

Where would he and Martin be if Sampras and Agassi had been on the team, Courier was asked.

“Probably playing the doubles,” Courier said, smiling.

But nobody asked where Sampras and Agassi were.