A Less-Than-Grand Entrance : Davis Cup: Yeltsin’s arrival stops match and appears to cost Volkov momentum against Edberg as Swedes take 2-0 lead over Russia.

President Boris N. Yeltsin, Russia’s top tennis fanatic, swept grandly into the Olympic Sports Center on Friday, three hours late, to cheer his team in its first Davis Cup final.

His timing couldn’t have been worse.

Yeltsin stopped the show. And with it apparently stopped Alexander Volkov’s momentum in the opening match against four-time champion Sweden. Stopped it as cold as the snowstorm outside.

Volkov, then bidding to upset Stefan Edberg, suddenly unraveled. And at the end of a punishing day, the Swedes had a pair of five-set victories and a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Sweden can clinch the victory in today’s doubles match when world champions Jan Apell and Jonas Bjorkman take on Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Andrei Olhovskiy.

World-class tennis is such a novelty in Moscow that the whistling, foot-stomping crowd of 10,000 proved as much of a burden as a boost to the young home team with so much to prove.

“Maybe I felt too much responsibility . . . psychological pressure playing in front of so many people,” Kafelnikov, Russia’s top player, said after losing the second match to Magnus Larsson.

Yeltsin certainly added to the drama, and there was debate afterward in both dressing rooms on whether he had also contributed to his team’s demise.

Consider what had transpired before that moment:

Edberg, playing in his sixth Davis Cup final, confused Volkov from the start with a leftward spin on his serve--something the left-handed Russian had not seen in their previous five meetings.

The Swede easily won the first two sets.

Spectators started waving little tricolor Russian flags and shouting things like, “Sasha, get off your butt, attack!” and “Don’t retreat, all Russia is behind you!”

Thus inspired, Volkov forced a tiebreaker in the third set and defeated Edberg, 7-2, closing with an ace.

Volkov won the next seven games, then lost his concentration but struggled ahead, 5-4, in the decisive fifth set.

With Yeltsin waiting to make his belated entry, Volkov served match point.

But, after three volleys, he netted a weak backhand and never got another chance. Edberg gained the next two points to tie the set at 5-5.

Then Yeltsin flashed into the hall. The president waved, climbed into the VIP section and took a seat. Bodyguards cleared a path. Heads turned. Yeltsin’s name was announced. People applauded.

The commotion held up play.

When it was resumed, Edberg won two of the next three games, capping his comeback with two perfect lobs from the baseline. The score was 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (7-2), 0-6, 8-6.

Volkov watched the winning lob helplessly from the net, tossed a ball toward Yeltsin’s section and flung his racket at the Russian team bench.

Kafelnikov, waiting for his match, was appalled by Yeltsin’s appearance.

“Is it a reasonable person who in the decisive game, when the tension is so high, makes such an abnormal move?” Kafelnikov asked later. “He created a five-minute pause. The players cooled off. That probably affected Alexander.”

Volkov, however, did not blame Yeltsin.

“I couldn’t have failed to notice when the president arrived,” he said. “But I can’t say it interfered with my game.”

Edberg was grateful for the break.

“It actually gave me some extra time,” he said. “Maybe I should thank Boris for coming in at that time.”

His teammate Larsson quipped, “I hope he comes back for the doubles tomorrow.”

By the time Kafelnikov began the biggest match of his life, Yeltsin was gone. But the Swedes stayed on a roll.

Larsson, hero of Sweden’s semifinal upset of the United States, scored 26 aces and service winners in a 6-0, 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3 victory.

Kafelnikov, 20, fell down three times, losing his confidence and his seven-match Davis Cup winning streak.

“Larsson played like a god,” he said. “It’s practically impossible to do anything against a serve like his.”