TENNIS ROUNDUP : U.S. to Face Bahamas in Davis Cup Qualifier

After losing in the first round of its defense of the Davis Cup championship, the United States got a big break in the draw Thursday in its effort to remain in the tournament’s top division.

The Americans, who were without their top players in losing to Australia in the first round in March, were paired with the Bahamas in the World Group qualifying series set for the United States Sept. 24-26.

The Bahamas is making its first appearance in the qualifying round, after zone-play upsets of Chile and Uruguay.

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Brenda Schultz sent Jennifer Capriati out of the German Open, using her powerful serve to upset the fourth-seeded American, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, in the third round at Berlin.

Capriati, playing on clay for the last time before the French Open, was overpowered by the 6-foot-2 Dutch player whose serves were measured at 113 m.p.h.

The rest of the top seeded players easily advanced into the quarterfinals, but third-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez was the only one of four Americans to win. She defeated Austria’s Judith Wiesner, 6-2, 7-6.

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Boris Becker, still awaiting his breakthrough on clay courts, was eliminated from the Italian Open, losing a third-set tiebreaker to Andrei Chesnokov at Rome.

Chesnokov, one of the world’s most tenacious clay players, defeated the third-seeded Becker, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3).

Also reaching the round of eight were top-seeded Pete Sampras, defending champion and No. 2 Jim Courier, No. 4 Goran Ivanisevic, No. 6 Michael Chang, No. 7 Sergi Bruguera, Marcelo Filippini and Guillermo Perez-Roldan.

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Patrick McEnroe, continuing his emergence from the shadow of his retired brother, John, advanced to the quarterfinals of the America’s Red Clay Championship at Coral Springs, Fla., with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Jeff Tarango.