Agassi Comes Back to Give U.S. Lead, 1-0 : Davis Cup: Trailing two sets to one, he pulls out victory over Australia’s Fromberg.

Andre Agassi twice rallied from a set down to beat Richard Fromberg in five sets as the heavily favored United States took a 1-0 lead over Australia in the Davis Cup finals Friday night.

Agassi, ranked fourth in the world, won, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

In the fifth set, Fromberg won back-to-back games at love to close the margin to 5-4, but Agassi took the final game on his third match point with a forehand winner.

Michael Chang of the United States was to play Darren Cahill in Friday’s late match. Today’s pairing in the best-of-five event pits the U.S. doubles team of Rick Leach and Jim Pugh against Pat Cash and John Fitzgerald.

With the finals in the United States for the first time since 1981, a crowd of about 17,000 was passive by Davis Cup standards. There was little chanting or flag-waving, and the fans rarely cheered mistakes by Fromberg.

The 20-year-old Fromberg, Australia’s best clay-court player and highest-ranked pro at No. 32, was making his Davis Cup debut. He showed no indication of being nervous, and when in a jam he would often bail himself out with a big serve.

On a clay court in the Suncoast Dome, each player hugged the baseline and tried to outlast the other. It was Agassi’s patience that was finally rewarded in the 3 1/2-hour match.

As a tiring Fromberg struggled to get his first serve in, Agassi broke him twice in a row to win the fourth set easily. The American, pounding his groundstrokes with more confidence than early in the match, broke again in the first and fifth games of the final set.

Fromberg took the early lead with a combination of aces and a big forehand that often pinned Agassi in his backhand corner.

Agassi looked tentative initially, and his strategic moves sometimes backfired. He netted several attempted drop shots. When he decided to come to the net for only the second time in the match, he netted a forehand volley for the final point of the first set.