TENNIS ROUNDUP : Masur Tops Gilbert to Give Australia the Lead

Wally Masur defeated Brad Gilbert in four sets today to give Australia a 1-0 lead over the defending champion United States in their first-round Davis Cup match at Melbourne.

Masur won, 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-2, in a little more than three hours.

The Australian returned serve superbly and dominated Gilbert in the final two sets. It was only Masur’s third victory in nine meetings with Gilbert, but he is 2-1 against him on grass.

“I won and that’s what counts,” Masur said. “But we’ve still got a long way to go.”

American David Wheaton was to play Mark Woodforde in the second singles match.

The doubles, with Jim Grabb and Richey Reneberg facing Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge, are slated for Saturday with the reverse singles on Sunday.

Gilbert and Wheaton are playing for the United States because Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Michael Chang all declared themselves unavailable.

Australia has not played the United States on the grass courts of Kooyong since 1957, when the Australians won, 3-2, in the challenge round.

Masur said he was nervous in the first two sets.

“For a while I just didn’t know how to put him away,” he said. “Once I got over my nerves, I played really well.”

Masur didn’t lose his serve in the final two sets.

He broke Gilbert’s serve in the fifth and ninth games of the first set.

Masur needed only one break of serve to clinch the third set. In the fourth set, he broke Gilbert in the fifth and seventh games and the American threw his racket in frustration.

The winner of the match will face either Italy or Brazil in the second round.

Top-seeded Gabriela Sabatini needed only 65 minutes for a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Debbie Graham in the second round of the $375,000 Virginia Slims of Houston.

Sabatini, playing in her first match since losing to Steffi Graf last week in the Lipton final, won the first set in 29 minutes.

Sabatini will face Sandra Cecchini of Italy in the quarterfinals. Cecchini upset seventh-seeded Katerina Maleeva, 7-6 (7-3), 6-0.