Sampras Turns a Doubles Play : Davis Cup: Surprise pairing with Martin helps give U.S. 2-1 lead over Russia.

An aching Pete Sampras produced his second day of heroics at the Davis Cup tennis final Saturday. This time he made it look easy.

Reviving from a match that left him victorious but cramped and sprawled on the clay Friday, Sampras took the court again as a surprise substitute in the doubles and teamed with Todd Martin to blow away the Russians.

His huge serves were the key to the 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Andrei Olhovskiy and silenced 14,000 in Moscow’s Olympic Sports Complex. Sampras was the only player to hold every service throughout the 1-hour 51-minute match.

As a result, the United States took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series. And Sampras, the world’s No. 1 player, gained a chance to clinch it himself in his singles match today against sixth-ranked Kafelnikov.

“To play back to back to back is hard on the body,” Sampras said. “Yesterday I was pretty much spent. But this is the Davis Cup, this is the final and, certainly, come tomorrow, we really want to hold that Cup up. So I was prepared to do whatever it takes.”

Sampras’ legs were so cramped that he had to be carried off the court Friday after outdueling Andrei Chesnokov in the five-set opener. He had hoped to spend Saturday recovering, but when Kafelnikov defeated Jim Courier later Friday to even the series, U.S. captain Tom Gullikson asked Sampras to reconsider.

The listed U.S. doubles team was Martin and Richey Reneberg, but they had never played together. Kafelnikov and Olhovskiy had teamed seven times in Davis Cup play, winning five times. The strongest team Gullikson could send against them was Martin and Sampras, doubles champions at England’s Queens Cup in June.

After a massage, a dinner of steak and mashed potatoes, and a good night’s sleep, Sampras warmed up Saturday at the indoor arena. His right hamstring was sore and his right arm heavy, “but he sucked it up and said, ‘I’ll play if you really want me to play,’ ” Gullikson said.

Ninety minutes before match time, the captain made his decision. Then there was a flurry of panic. Sampras had nothing to match his teammate’s white uniform, so he borrowed Gullikson’s white shirt but had to plow through traffic to fetch some white shorts from his hotel room.

Martin opened the match with an ace, but, unnerved by the crowd, lost his first service. The Russians got overconfident.

“After that first game, I relaxed too much,” Kafelnikov said. “I probably underestimated my opponents.”

They punished the erratic Russian star by breaking him twice in the first set, four times in the match. They aimed most of their volleys at the weaker Olhovskiy, who seemed to have trouble organizing the Russian defense.

“Once we got into it, they made a couple of mistakes and we started playing better,” Martin said. “It was good for me to know that Pete didn’t have much energy to waste, because it made me work a little harder.”

Martin, nursing a pulled stomach muscle, saved the second set. With the set tied, 4-4, the towering American fell behind, 15-40, but rallied to the advantage with three big serves.

Olhovskiy lost his serve in the next game to give the Americans the set.

The Russians never threatened after that. Serving the decisive game of the match, Sampras was intimidating. He double-faulted twice, but the Russians managed only two service returns.

“They bet on Sampras’ powerful serve and it beat us,” Olhovskiy said.

Today’s first singles match will pit two workhorses playing a third consecutive day. If Kafelnikov defeats Sampras, the Chesnokov-Courier match will decide the title.

Sampras has beaten Kafelnikov in all three previous encounters, including the ATP Finals in Frankfurt last month. But this is Kafelnikov’s home crowd, his preferred clay surface.

And the 21-year-old Russian, the highest-ranked man in his country’s history, believes he’s the stronger of the two right now.

“After yesterday’s match, I know that Sampras’ drawback is that he cannot stay on the court very long,” Kafelnikov said, “so the longer I can play the better.”