It’s No Sweat as U.S. Advances to the Semifinals : Davis Cup: Krickstein erases memories of ’87 failure against Paraguay by beating the Czechs’ Korda in four sets.

For three years, Aaron Krickstein could not think about the Davis Cup without breaking into a cold sweat.

In Paraguay in 1987, the United States lost in the first round, 3-2, and while Krickstein provided one of the victories, he lost the decisive match. He has felt ever since that he owed one to his country.

He paid the debt with interest in the second round of this year’s Davis Cup against Czechoslovakia. He won two important matches, including the crucial one Sunday at the Prague Sports Hall against Petr Korda, 6-2, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, to send the United States into the semifinals in September against Austria.

The final result in the best-of-five competition was 4-1 after Brad Gilbert, who lost to Korda Friday night, beat Karel Novacek, 6-2, 6-1, in a match so meaningless that it was shortened from the usual best-of-five sets to best-of-three.

For the Czechs, the cause already was lost. Perhaps that was the case even before the round began as their No. 1 player, Miroslav Mecir, withdrew because of a back injury and Korda suffered a pulled stomach muscle in practice Wednesday. He did not practice Thursday, a fact the Czechs did not reveal until after his match Sunday.

If Korda, ranked 26th in the world, was injured, he showed no indications of it Friday night, when he whisked the No. 5 Gilbert off the court in a three-set match that lasted only 1 hour 44 minutes.

“If that’s the way he plays after not practicing, he should never practice the day before a match,” Krickstein said.

Nor did Korda practice Saturday. That is because he played doubles with Milan Srejber against arguably the world’s best team, Rick Leach of Laguna Beach and Jim Pugh of Palos Verdes, who won with a minimum of effort in three sets.

Because Srejber was complaining beforehand about various injuries and was supposed to play singles Sunday, Czech captain Frantisek Pala was second-guessed for using him in the doubles when there was so little chance of upsetting Leach and Pugh.

The criticism was validated when Srejber had to withdraw from the singles Sunday because of a bad back. If the second match against Gilbert had been significant, the Czechs would much rather have had Srejber on the court than Novacek. When it later was revealed that Korda also was injured, Pala’s decision Saturday seemed doubly dubious.

“I’m just glad I survived this match,” Korda said. “I could not serve, which you could see. I felt like I had a knife in my stomach.”

Korda certainly did not look like the player who overwhelmed Gilbert. Not only was the serve missing, his ground strokes, superb Friday night, were inconsistent as he made one unforced error after another.

But, Krickstein was better equipped to handle Korda on this particular weekend than Gilbert.

“You sometimes match up better against different players,” Krickstein said. “My game is a little different from Brad’s. He hits a lot of flat shots, and Korda likes flat shots. Brad wasn’t able to turn up the pressure.

“I felt I could hit the ball a lot harder and get it around the court a little more. I hit a lot of topspin. Since he was a little off, he started spraying shots.”

Krickstein is a slow starter, perhaps because he has such an excellent record in five-set matches that he believes his game can arrive a little late and still prevail. He lost the first set Friday night to Srejber, then plodded to a five-set victory that included three tie-breakers and took 3 hours 57 minutes.

Hoping that Krickstein, who often looks as if he is ready for a nap, would be more alert for the first set Sunday, U.S. captain Tom Gorman and the other players on the team tried to kick-start him in the dressing room.

“We tried to get him pumped up,” Gorman said. “It’s not that easy to do.”

One thing that seemed to work on Krickstein, who is from Grosse Pointe, Mich., was calling him Zeke, the nickname of Detroit Piston point guard Isiah Thomas.

Krickstein was ready from the beginning Sunday, winning his first serve in a love game, breaking Korda the second time he served and wrapping up the set in 31 minutes.

Krickstein, a baseliner like Korda but a better server, was at his best in the second set, when he had four aces and only one break point against him on his serve.

He let down in the third set, when he allowed Korda, who likes to play quickly, to control the tempo. But then Krickstein’s better conditioning and mental toughness made the difference as the match wore on.

Korda appeared as if he might get a break in the fifth game of the fourth set, but Krickstein came back from 15-40. In the next game, Krickstein got the break when Korda miss-hit shots at the net that should have been winners.

“It gives me great satisfaction to see Aaron play that way,” Gorman said. “In the Davis Cup, things can turn on two or three points. I think that very match that he won in five sets was the key match.

“His maturity, his ability to come through, impressed me. He never seemed to be bothered by the enthusiasm of the Czech crowd. He seemed to thrive on it.”

Krickstein said that if he could survive Paraguay, where the crowd gave new meaning to the word enthusiasm, he could survive anything.

“Mentally, I’m a lot tougher,” Krickstein, 23, said. “I’ve grown up a lot on the court. I’m also a better player. I wouldn’t bump the net, didn’t have a serve, and my backhand needed work. I’m happy with the game I’ve developed.”

It has enabled him to improve to seventh in the rankings, but he is still only fourth in the United States behind No. 4 Andre Agassi, No. 5 Gilbert and No. 6 John McEnroe. Agassi was selected for this round but decided not to play in a dispute with Gorman. Krickstein was selected instead.

If he continues to play well, Krickstein said he believes he should be selected to play in Austria even if McEnroe and Agassi are still ranked higher.

“Davis Cup is not a top priority to them right now,” he said. “To me, that’s a cop-out. It would be tough for me to handle if I’m not picked.”

Gorman made no commitments. One factor he must consider is that matches in Austria are likely to be played on clay, which virtually eliminates Gilbert. But that still leaves Krickstein, Agassi, McEnroe, Michael Chang and maybe even Jay Berger in contention.

“Give us a few hours, or a few weeks, to think about that,” Gorman said. “We’re celebrating our victory.”

One player, Rick Leach, started early, losing track of the score and running onto the court to congratulate Krickstein after he won his fifth game in the fourth set against Korda.

“I felt as funny as it must have looked,” Leach said.

That put additional pressure on Krickstein.

“I was kind of worried,” he said. “I asked myself, ‘What happens if I lose this match now?’ ”