TENNIS ROUNDUP : Same U.S. Davis Cup Team to Face Australia

As assumed, U.S. Davis Cup captain Tom Gorman will count on Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, Rick Leach and Jim Pugh--the same foursome that beat Austria in the semifinals--to put together another winning effort when they play Australia on clay courts in the finals Nov. 30-Dec. 2 at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Two clay courts will be specially built in the indoor Florida Suncoast Dome, with construction starting Nov. 19. The U.S. Tennis Assn. said the surface, a compacted red-brick dust imported from Germany, would resemble European courts.

“It’s a little different than anything we’ve done in the United States,” Gorman said Thursday of the decision to play on a style of court that’s typically found in Europe. “It gives us a chance to play against a team that favors a fast surface. If we can minimize or cut down on their advantage, that’s what we want to do.”

Thursday’s expected announcement that the USTA had settled on red clay came one day after Australian Davis Cup officials complained that the USTA was flagrantly disregarding regulations by ignoring a deadline for announcing its decision.

The original deadline was Oct. 2, and the Australians were miffed that the announcement still didn’t come by the time a seven-day extension expired Tuesday.

“I think that the Australians knew the day after (the U.S.’s 3-2 semifinal victory) that we could be doing this,” Gorman said. “It hasn’t been a total secret.”

While Gorman intends to use Agassi, Chang, Leach and Pugh in the finals, the team won’t be named officially until 10 days before the matches. In selecting a slower playing surface, several leading American players were eliminated, including John McEnroe and U.S. Open champion Pete Sampras.

McEnroe, the winningest American in Davis Cup history, and Sampras are both outstanding hardcourt players, although Sampras’ inexperience may have left him off the team regardless of the surface.

The United States is in the finals for the first time since 1984.

Top-seeded Steffi Graf defeated unseeded Dinky van Rensburg of South Africa, 6-1, 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals of the European Indoors tournament at Zurich, Switzerland.

Graf, the world’s top-ranked female player, is the three-time defending champion of this event.

Second-seeded Gabriela Sabatini fought off a set point in rallying from a 2-5 second-set deficit against Germany’s Claudia Kohde-Kilsch. The 20-year-old Argentine, this year’s U.S Open champion, won, 6-4, 7-5.

In other matches, No. 3 Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere of Switzerland ousted Claudia Porwik of Germany, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2; and No. 4 Jana Novotna of Czechoslovakia, a finalist last year against Graf, defeated Argentina’s Mercedes Paz, 6-2, 6-2.

Unseeded Martin Sinner of Germany upset top-seeded Goran Ivanisevic of Yugoslavia, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Berlin Open.

Second-seeded Jonas Svensson of Sweden beat Markus Zoecke of Germany, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, but fourth-seeded Horst Skoff of Austria also lost, falling to unseeded Luiz Mattar of Brazil, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Ivan Lendl, the top three seeded players, all advanced to the quarterfinals of the Seiko Super tournament at Tokyo.

Edberg beat Darren Cahill 6-4, 6-2; Becker defeated Todd Witsken, 6-2, 6-3, and Lendl outlasted Wally Masur, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.