THE DAVIS CUP : U.S. Leads, 2-0, After McEnroe, Agassi Dominate

Now that he’s a creaky 30, John McEnroe says he has come to the conclusion it’s lights out for the old laser beam intensity that sometimes made him, well, a cranky No. 1.

If McEnroe is going to reach No. 1 again, it will be with a different personality. Maybe not Mr. Sunshine, but something like him. Andre Agassi, maybe?

There can of course be only one, official Andre. And so it was that under the glare of the white lights of the Sports Arena, two U.S. tennis personalities in transit stopped a moment for inspection.

On the occasion of the first night of its Davis Cup quarterfinal showdown against France, the United States took a 2-0 lead when both McEnroe and Agassi, their rackets serving as extensions of their merging personalities, won their singles matches.

McEnroe got the United States off to a quick start with an easy 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 victory over Yannick Noah. Then Agassi, ranked No. 5 in the world, took over.

“That court was still hot from coming off of it,” Agassi said.

A cold front moved in later. Although he could have won it in much the same fashion, Agassi needed to go four sets before defeating stubborn Henri Leconte, 6-1, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.

The evening viewed in total, it might have been a wipeout that knew no border. For the better part of the night, the French may never have been treated so rudely. They may have asked for the Statue of Liberty back.

But Leconte, who described himself as a fighter, was true to his word. He started piling up winners as Agassi tried to close out the match. Agassi had four match points in the third set but incredibly blew them all.

He held one match point serving for the match at 5-2 and double-faulted. He had three more match points at 5-4, 40-0, and once again Leconte steeled his nerves and broke Agassi.

What happened?

“Ask Henri,” Agassi said. “He’s the one who came up with the winners.

“When a guy plays that kind of tennis, there’s nothing you can do.”

The United States can clinch the victory by winning the doubles today. Ken Flach and Robert Seguso will play the announced team of Noah and Leconte, although the French can change their lineup.

One positive in Noah’s poor play Friday is that he can try to improve in his match Sunday against Agassi.

McEnroe was nearly flawless against Noah, a matchup of serve-and-volley players. He began slowly, then found himself playing in the state of mind that tennis players call a zone.

There was no zone defense for Noah.

“Sometimes I felt like I was in (a zone),” McEnroe said. “You hope to do that from start to finish. I was pumped up. I was hoping it would be a match like this, but I wasn’t expecting it.”

What went right for Noah? He said he escaped without his knees getting sore. The list of what went wrong is a lot longer.

“I couldn’t return, I didn’t serve that well, I didn’t move too well--I just had my . . . kicked,” he said. “What can I say?”

It has taken four weeks for Noah to get his game together, but McEnroe needed only 1 hour 56 minutes to undo it.

Noah, who reached the final at Indian Wells and the semifinals at Key Biscayne, Fla., in his last two tournaments, had become something of a five-set devotee. But McEnroe made sure the match was quick.

Besides, said McEnroe, something about Noah’s five-set matches struck him: He wasn’t in them.

“That wasn’t John McEnroe he was playing,” McEnroe said. “He was two sets down to Alexander Volkov.”

It might as well have been Alexander Graham Bell that McEnroe was playing. He probably would have hung up on him, too.

Noah did not have a single break-point opportunity. McEnroe lost only 14 points in 13 service games.

McEnroe was never threatened once he broke Noah for the first time in the eighth game of the first set.

He sent a stunning backhand return of Noah’s first serve down the line for a winner on the third break point to lead, 5-3.

“Once I got over the butterflies and got that first break, I thought I really played well,” McEnroe said.

McEnroe went on to serve out the set in a breeze, getting two of his 10 aces.

McEnroe’s serve, which kept Noah guessing on direction and pace, began to take its toll. Coupled with McEnroe’s uncanny ability to return Noah’s serve, the match turned into a full-scale rout.

McEnroe broke Noah in the first game of the second set as well as in the first and third games of the third set. While McEnroe’s domination became more pronounced, Noah grew progressively more despondent. If Noah’s body language could talk, he had already lost.

And who could blame him with the shots McEnroe was hitting?

Consider:

--At 15-30 in the first game of the third set, Noah’s second serve was hit hard by McEnroe down the line for a backhand winner. Noah double-faulted at 15-40 to lose his serve.

--At deuce and down 0-2 in the third set, Noah’s second serve was again eaten up by McEnroe. He sent a forehand return that died at Noah’s feet. Noah dumped a backhand volley into the net on break point for a 3-0 McEnroe lead.

--At deuce, after losing three match-point opportunities, McEnroe’s backhand crosscourt passing shot bounced twice just in front of Noah’s racket.

--On the fourth match point, McEnroe’s seeing-eye backhand dribbled off Noah’s racket as he seemed to try to scoop it back over the net.