TENNIS ROUNDUP : Choice of Surface Is No Dutch Treat

The choice of surface backfired for the Netherlands on Friday as Sweden took a 2-0 lead over the Dutch team on the first day of a Davis Cup quarterfinal at The Hague.

The Dutch chose to play the Swedes on a clay court to tame the grass-court power of Stefan Edberg. But Edberg didn’t play, and the Netherlands’ own grass specialist lost in straight sets.

Elsewhere in quarterfinal play Friday: France and India split their opening matches at Frejus, France; Germany took a 1-0 lead over the Czech Republic at Halle, Germany, and Australia, which eliminated the defending champion United States in March, split with Italy at Florence, Italy.

With Edberg, ranked No. 3 in the world, home attending to his newborn daughter, Swedish clay-court specialist Magnus Gustafsson won the first match over Paul Haarhuis, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.

Big-serving Richard Krajicek, who would have been more comfortable on a fast grass surface, was upset by Magnus Larsson, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, in the second match.

At Frejus, Arnaud Boetsch of France needed less than two hours to beat Ramesh Krishnan, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, before Leander Paes evened the series with a 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Henri Leconte.

At Halle, Marc Goellner of Germany scored a 6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) upset over Petr Korda.

In the second match, Germany’s Michael Stich was leading Karel Novacek, 6-3, 3-3, when play was suspended because of darkness.

At Florence, Australia’s Richard Fromberg defeated Italy’s Renzo Furlan, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4.

Stefano Pescosolido got Italy even with a 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Mark Woodforde.

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Top-seeded Ivan Lendl defeated No. 8 Aaron Krickstein, 6-2, 6-2, and second-seeded Mal Washington ousted No. 6 Brad Gilbert, 6-3, 6-3, in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Pro championships at Brookline, Mass. . . . Top-seeded Anke Huber of Germany advanced to the semifinals of the Austrian Open with a pair of victories as she and most others had to play twice to make up for rain delays at Kitzbuehel. Huber defeated fellow German Maja Zivec-Skulj, 6-1, 7-5, before eliminating Virginia Ruano-Pascual of Spain, 6-1, 6-4. No. 2 Mary Pierce of France was upset by Switzerland’s Emanuela Zardo, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4). . . . Germany’s Meike Babel upset top-seeded Ines Gorrochategui of Argentina, 6-2, 6-4, in the quarterfinals of the Prague Open.