Martin’s a Hero in U.S. Victory : Davis Cup: Filling in for injured Agassi, he clinches victory over Sweden and berth in final against Russia.

It was a stars and stripes kind of day in the Davis Cup semifinal against Sweden here Sunday, and the star of the United States’ victory was truly a red, white and blue kind of guy.

With flags waving and chants of “USA, USA, USA” ringing throughout a tennis stadium at Caesars Palace that was packed with 11,503 people, many of whom literally wore their nationalism on their backs, Todd Martin became the great American hero for a day.

The only thing that could have made the day more pleasingly patriotic for U.S. sports fans was if Martin had come out onto the court singing “Yankee Doodle.” Or, perhaps, if he had been able to play golf.

Martin, who was supposed to be sitting and cheering for Andre Agassi, replaced him on the court against Sweden’s top singles player, Thomas Enqvist. Then Martin did what everybody had expected Agassi to do--beat Enqvist and clinch a spot for the United States in the Davis Cup final.

Martin’s victory, along with Pete Sampras’ 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win over Mats Wilander in a fifth match shortened because it had no bearing on the team outcome, made the final score of the best-of-five event 4-1.

Martin scored an impressive 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) victory over a player ranked 11 spots above him at No. 8. More impressive was the manner in which he performed, considering the circumstances.

At 9:15 a.m. Sunday, 1 hour 45 minutes before play was to begin, Agassi backed out because of an injured chest muscle. He had felt a pull early in the third set of his straight-set victory over Wilander on Friday, and after a day of medical attention and uncertainty over how the injury would respond to treatment, Agassi woke up Sunday morning and said it “felt worse.”

So Martin, the consummate nice guy on the tour, who had been chosen for the U.S. team more as a singles backup than for the doubles role he played with Jonathan Stark in a loss to Sweden on Saturday, was called on to pinch hit.

The result was a masterpiece of all-court tennis that included 27 aces--three more than Sampras had in his overpowering four-set victory over Enqvist on Friday--and an outstanding performance on the big points.

Martin had set points against him in the first and third sets. But having survived those, and having gotten through a particularly long and tough service game serving into the sun at 5-6 of the third set, Martin dominated the early part of the tiebreaker.

Finally, 2 hours 26 minutes after his unscheduled appearance had begun, Martin took a serve from Enqvist at 2-6 of the tiebreaker, and, swinging from the heels, crushed a backhand winner.

The “ultimate team player,” as Agassi called Martin, turned and flung his racket 30 rows up into the bleachers, then started a series of hugs and handshakes that included everybody from Tom Gullikson, the U.S. team captain, to Agassi and Enqvist and anybody else within arm’s reach.

It was a well-deserved celebration, and one that may go a long way toward erasing Martin’s memory of last year’s Davis Cup semifinal, won by Sweden over the United States, when Martin lost a four-setter in the fifth match to Magnus Larsson.

“It was certainly my highest moment in tennis,” said Martin, whose best previous showing was probably his advance to the Australian Open final in 1994. “I just hope there is another chance to equal it.”

Martin is a 25-year-old from Lansing, Mich., whose image on the tour is of somebody carrying old-fashioned, heartland-of-America values. He spent two years at Northwestern University before joining the tour, and he has become not only one if its best players, but also one of its best-spoken ambassadors.

“I am very proud of Todd for a lot of reasons . . . “ Agassi said. “For him to wake up this morning and be ready to come out here and compete on that level was absolutely astonishing.”

Even more astonishing, apparently, was Germany’s collapse in the other semifinal in Moscow, where the Russians came back from a 2-0 deficit after Friday’s opening singles and Andrei Chesnokov beat Michael Stich in the deciding fifth match Sunday by fighting off nine match points and winning, 14-12, in the fifth set.

That means that the Dec. 1-3 final will be played in Moscow, probably on the slowest, reddest clay/mud the Russians can find and put in the noisiest indoor facility they have. Gullikson will probably go with Sampras and Agassi in the singles for that one, even though clay is far from Sampras’ best surface.

“Moscow is a long, cold way away,” said Gullikson, who understandably was more interested in waving the flag for Martin, whom he called “a quality guy and a great representative for the United States.”

And one who had the ultimate in a star-spangled day.