Chang, Martin Command the Day

Odd feeling for Michael Chang, to return to his seat during a changeover and find a coach sitting beside him, as is the Davis Cup custom. Many vaguely familiar feelings flooded back to Chang, who returned Friday to Davis Cup competition after a six-year absence.

On a cool, cloudy day, Chang helped the U.S. team to a 2-0 lead over Mexico, a team some had suggested the Americans might take lightly. Those thoughts were erased quickly as the fifth-ranked Chang dispatched Leonardo Lavalle, ranked No. 360 in the world, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

In the second singles match, Todd Martin easily beat Alejandro Hernandez, 6-3, 6-3, 6-0.

In today’s doubles match, the U.S. team of Patrick McEnroe and Patrick Galbraith, ranked No. 5 as a doubles player, is scheduled to play Oscar Ortiz and Luis Herrera, although Mexican captain Raul Ramirez is expected to change that team.

The less-than-capacity crowd at the La Costa Resort was clearly pro-Mexican, thus negating the Davis Cup tradition of home-court advantage. Martin called the decision to hold the match here--about 40 miles from the Mexican border--a mistake by the U.S. Tennis Assn.

“It doesn’t feel like a home tie,” Martin said.

Chang, whose family lived for a time in San Diego, got the team off to a good start with a spirited match against Lavalle, a 6-foot-2 left-hander. U.S. captain Tom Gullikson said the extent of his “coaching” of Chang during changeovers was limited to providing encouragement. “I didn’t have to say much,” he said.

Lavalle, 28, has a potent forehand. But, in his eagerness to wield that weapon, he fell prey to Chang’s lure. Chang, 23, frequently sent short shots to Lavalle, and the Mexican, in his zeal, pounced on the ball and smacked it into the net.

While Lavalle’s style produced an enormous number of unforced errors--39 to Chang’s nine--many of his errors cannot be said to be unforced, as they came at Chang’s design.

His winners, too, came off the forehand side.

Lavalle was also a victim of Chang’s improved serve. The players were still finding their way in the early portions of the match and hadn’t settled into a rhythm when, in the fourth game, Chang served wide to Lavalle’s forehand. Lavalle’s return winner told Chang what he wanted to know--for the rest of the match, only rarely would Chang serve to the forehand side.

Chang had held a 4-2 lead in the third set but Lavalle persisted and got his only break point of the match, which he converted. His pressure on Chang yielded a service break in the eighth game, giving brief rise to chants from the Mexican fans.

Chang ended any thought of a comeback, however, by breaking back in the next game and serving for the match.

“I got a little tight in the third set,” Chang said. “I’m not going to take any player lightly. You never want to let up on your opponent.”

That appeared to be Martin’s approach. He started out well, then poured it on. By the third set, he had Hernandez pinned to the baseline by dominating the net.

Hernandez, a promising 18-year-old ranked No. 203, did not hold serve in the third set.

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Davis Cup Notes

Austrian Thomas Muster, a clay-court specialist, won his first major match on grass Friday--a 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 victory over South Africa’s Marcos Ondruska. Wayne Ferreira tied the competition at 1-1 by overpowering Austrian Wolfgang Schranz--ranked No. 496--in Johannesburg on the opening day of the World Group first-round matches.

In Geneva, Davis Cup rookies David Prinosil and Hendrik Dreekmann gave a German team playing without an injured Boris Becker a 2-0 lead over Switzerland. Prinosil beat Jakob Hlasek, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 4-6, 6-1, and then Dreekmann outplayed Olympic champion Marc Rosset, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4.

On clay in Rome, Italy’s Andrea Gaudenzi made a spectacular comeback from two sets and 4-1 down to outlast Russia’s Andrei Chesnokov, 2-6, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-1. Yevgeny Kafelnikov tied the match by downing Renzo Furlan, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Magnus Larsson defeated Belgium’s Filip Dewulf, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), as Sweden, a four-time titlist since 1984, took a 2-0 lead at Katrineholm. Thomas Enqvist crushed Dick Norman, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1.

* The Associated Press contributed to this story.